Iran’s Parliament has voted overwhelmingly for a bill promising a response to the latest US sanctions on Tehran.
Of the 247 MPs in the session, 240 voted yes and one abstained.
Iran’s officials — including President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani — have promised a “proportionate response” since the US Congress approved additional sanctions on Iran, Russia, and North Korea on July 25. Despite his opposition to the restrictions on Moscow, Donald Trump signed the bill the following week.
The Iranian Parliament’s declaration calls on ministries and the military to produce “a comprehensive strategic plan” within six months, but it is largely symbolic: neither the Majlis nor Iranian leaders have specified any actions against Washington.
Instead, Iran is likely to proclaim its continued testing of ballistic missiles, in defiance of the objections by the US and other countries, as a sign of its defiance. The bill allocated more than $260 million each to the ballistic missile program and the Quds Force, the external arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Iranian regime, including Rouhani and Zarif, have made clear that they will not leave the July 2015 nuclear deal and its Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, present in the Majlis session, reaffirmed, “The bill has very wisely tried not to violate the JCPOA and also give no chance to the other party to manipulate it.”
