No bowing to bullies, no ending enrichment: Iran MP

An Iranian lawmaker says the Islamic Republic will never give up its right to uranium enrichment and the US should know Tehran will not “bow to bullying.”

Member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Mohammad Salehi Jokar on Saturday pointed to remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry against Iran and said “Americans should know that they cannot speak with the Iranian nation through the language of force” which has proved to be ineffective.

He said that Majlis would not approve any final deal over Tehran’s nuclear energy program which fails to include the country’s right to uranium enrichment.

“Majlis will definitely not approve any agreement that does not consider the country’s national interests. Majlis will not approve any final deal which does not recognize the Iranian nation’s rights, including [the right to uranium] enrichment,” he added.

Speaking to Al-Arabiya on Thursday, Kerry said that if Iran resumes uranium enrichment beyond the five-percent level, “then the military option that is available to the United States is ready and prepared to do what it would have to do.”

Kerry’s remarks came just days after Iran and the five permanent members of the Security Council – Russia, China, France, Britain, and the US – plus Germany started to implement a nuclear deal they sealed in the Swiss city of Geneva on November 24, 2013.

Under the deal, Iran would take the confidence-building measure of limiting its nuclear enrichment to five percent for six-months and in return it would be provided with partial sanctions relief.