TEHRAN – In response to the new UN sanctions resolution the Iranian parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to study a bill that if approved would allow a reciprocal inspection of foreign ships and also bar inspection of the Iranian nuclear sites beyond the NPT requirements.

Of the 197 MPs present in the parliament, 180 voted to study the proposed bill, 4 voted against, and 4 abstained.
The new sanctions resolution, adopted against Iran on June 9 by the UN Security Council, allows inspection of Iranian ships.
Top lawmaker Alaeddin Borujerdi, the architect of the proposed nuclear achievement protection bill, said, “We as the representatives of the people and the guardians of national interests” consider it necessary to protect the country’s nuclear achievements.
Borujerdi, chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, also suggested that Iran “should prevent the entry” of those nuclear inspectors to the country who leak their findings to media in a violation of the regulations set by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
As a response to the resolution, the reformist MP Mostafa Kavakebian also suggested that Iran should ban an inspection of its nuclear sites by the IAEA “for about six months” as a response to the sanctions resolution.
Reciprocal inspection
Kazem Jalali, the spokesman of the parliamentary committee, also said if the plan is approved the government will be obliged to inspect foreign ships if any Iranian ship is inspected.
Pointing to Iran’s geostrategic position in the Strait of Hormuz, Jalali said, “The Strait of Hormuz is the strategic position in the region and the Islamic Republic will not waver (in its determination) in using its levers of power.”
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also threatened “retaliation” against any country that acts to enforce the new sanctions resolution against Iran.
“Any country that would damage Iran’s interests because of the sanctions will face Iran’s severe retaliation,” Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday in an address televised live from the southwestern city of Shahrekord.
Ahmadinejad said Iran is ready to resume talks on its nuclear program, but said “the conditions of dialogue have changed.”
“We will set conditions for dialogue in order to discipline you,” the president explained. -