TEHRAN, Iran — The Iranian parliament’s establishment of a Special Commission for Reviewing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has turned into a headache for President Hassan Rouhani and the nuclear negotiating team. Yet, despite the ruckus the commission has caused, many lawmakers, lawyers and Rouhani supporters say the whole thing is nothing but a show put on by conservatives who seek to regain power in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Al-Monitor sat down with former Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi to get a sense of the situation. “It’s very good that parliament is becoming involved in the serious issues that our country faces, and there is no problem with this. But exactly how parliament plans to do this, and whether it wants to discuss details or generalities, are things that we have to wait to see,” said Asefi. He qualified his comments and said, “In the end, though, I don’t think parliament will involve itself in the ratification or rejection of the JCPOA, since doing so will have serious consequences.”
