With 161 votes in favor, 59 against and 13 abstentions, Iran’s conservative-dominated parliament approved the nuclear deal between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany on Oct. 13. The approval lifts one obstacle to implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreed upon in July, according to which Iran will reduce its nuclear activity in return for sanctions relief. Iranian parliamentarians and media outlets opposed to the deal, however, have not given up, suggesting that the process to approve the deal violated the law.

Mehrdad Bazrpash, a Tehran parliamentarian and the editor of hard-line Vatan-e Emrooz, criticized the process by which the vote came about yesterday, and said, “The JCPOA, which was the result of 22 months of negotiations, should not get 15 minutes” for a vote. In the session for the vote of the nuclear deal, parliament Speaker Ali Larijani was accused of pushing the vote forward and not allowing parliament members to offer amendments or recommendations. Iran's parliament had in the days previous been debating the deal and had even convened a special committee.

Bazrpash continued on the parliament floor, “In your opinion, was an expert or legal bill ratified? Were Articles 65 and 66 of the constitution observed? History will judge on this matter.” Article 65 of Iran’s constitution defines the number of parliament members to be present for a legally valid session. Bazrpash did specify how the law was violated.

Hamid Rasaei, Tehran parliamentarian and editor of hard-line 9-Dey, accused Larijani of “trampling the bylaws” of the country, and said, “Ali Larijani today, in less than 20 minutes, pushed the approval of a bill that implicitly approves the nuclear deal. He did not allow any proposals other than three proposals to his liking, and did not allow any discussions about favoring or opposing recommendations.”