Rouhani Slams Iranian MPs for 'Harmful' Nuclear Revival Plan, Adopted After Top Scientist's Killing

The bill adopted by Iranian MPs would have suspended UN inspections and required the government to resume enriching uranium to 20 percent if European countries fail to shield Tehran from the US sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump after he left the Iranian nuclear deal in 2018.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has slammed a bill approved by parliament that would have stipulated the suspension of UN inspections and boosting uranium enrichment. The president said that the legislation was "harmful" to diplomatic efforts of the Islamic Republic aimed at restoring the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and easing American sanctions against the country.

He also hinted that the lawmakers backed the initiative in order to gain popular appeal ahead of the next election, planned for June.

In this Jan. 13, 2015, file photo released by the Iranian President's Office, President Hassan Rouhani visits the Bushehr nuclear power plant just outside of Bushehr, Iran.

© REUTERS / Iranian Presidency Office, Mohammad Berno

The statement was announced right after Joe Biden (projected to be the winner of the presidential race by the media), said Washington would rejoin the nuclear deal if Tehran agreed to comply by its terms.

The parliament adopted the bill following the assassination of nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was also a senior Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran scientist and a brigadier general in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps specialising in missiles. The researcher was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun when he left an armoured car about 175 km east of Tehran.

The murder was condemned by multiple nations, including China and Turkey, while Tehran claimed that Israeli spies were involved in the incident. Israel, however, has not officially reacted to the assassination.