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Source: Iran nuclear deal may be examined by US Congress before UNSC position announcement

According to diplomatic sources, this is not the best possible option, but it is needed in political terms in view of the Republican Party predominance in the Congress

UNITED NATIONS, June 16. /TASS/. If the Iranian nuclear program agreement is reached, the UN Security Council is likely to postpone at least for a month the decision on the lifting of sanctions on Iran to give the US Congress time for a detailed study of this document, diplomatic representatives of Western countries at the United Nations said on Monday on condition of anonymity.

According to them, this is not the best possible option, but it is needed in political terms in view of the Republican Party predominance in the Congress. The republicans are critical of President Barack Obama’s intention to achieve a "nuclear deal" with Iran. According to Western diplomats, the lawmakers do not want the UN Security Council to voice its position on the agreement with Iran, if it is reached, ahead of the American parliamentarians. The Congress members have allegedly regarded this as an attempt to pre-empt the opinion of the US lawmakers on this extremely important agreement.

It seems that there is no alternative, an Iranian representative told the Associated Press. "Do we like it? Of course not," he said.

Tehran insists on immediate and simultaneous lifting of the US and international sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic in case of reaching an agreement on its nuclear program.

The nuclear accord announced by Iran, the United States and five other world powers in early April placed limits on Tehran’s nuclear program for the next 15 years. Its central achievement was to reduce Iran’s existing stockpile of nuclear fuel and its capacity to produce new fuel to a level that would ensure it would take at least a year for Iran to manufacture enough fuel for an atomic weapon if it chose to violate the accord. It took two years of negotiations, capped by eight tumultuous days and nights of talks that appeared on the brink of breakdown several times. Negotiators produced a framework for a comprehensive agreement that parties say they intend to draft by June 30. If that final deal is reached and signed, it will be the most significant accord between Iran and major world powers since its Islamic revolution in 1979.