LONDON: Iran’s Parliament has called for international inspectors to be barred from accessing the country’s nuclear facilities, in response to the killing of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
In a statement issued on Sunday, MPs said the “best response” to Fakhrizadeh’s assassination would be to “revive Iran’s glorious nuclear industry” by halting the voluntary implementation of protocols that allow more intrusive inspections of the country’s nuclear facilities.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for Iran’s atomic energy organization, told Iranian media on Saturday that the issue of inspectors’ access “must be decided on at high levels” of the country’s leadership.
The Supreme National Security Council, a body directly answerable to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, usually handles decisions related to the country’s nuclear program.
Tehran allowed additional inspections as part of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), widely referred to as the Iran nuclear deal, which eased crippling economic sanctions on the country in exchange for heavy restrictions on the development of its nuclear industry.
The JCPOA has faced heavy scrutiny from the Trump administration, which has taken several steps to roll back the various concessions made to Iran as part of the deal.
