Tehran, Iran, Apr. 15
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham has said that the Islamic Republic recognizes only the governments of the nuclear negotiating parties in reaching a final agreement.
Afkham's statement addressed the report that US President Barack Obama has consented to congressional oversight on a final nuclear agreement with Iran, ISNA news agency reported April 15.
US President Barack Obama conceded that Congress will have the power to review a nuclear deal with Iran, reluctantly giving in to pressure from Republicans and some in his own party after they crafted a rare compromise demanding a say, Reuters reported earlier the day.
Since a preliminary agreement was reached in Switzerland on April 2, the White House had stepped up its lobbying to persuade Democratic senators not to support the bipartisan bill that would give Congress oversight of a final deal, saying it could threaten what Obama hopes will be a legacy-defining foreign-policy achievement.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Senator Bob Corker, who wrote the bill, said the White House had agreed to go along with the bill only after it was clear there was strong Democratic support. The legislation was passed unanimously by the committee and is expected to pass the full Senate and then the House of Representatives.
"In the course of the negotiations and the prospective comprehensive agreement, we deal with governments and it is the governments which are responsible for any commitment. As for the US, we also face the government," the Iranian spokesperson stated.
Iran and the group 5+1 (the US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany) reached a framework agreement on Tehran's nuclear program on April 2.
The have decided to strike a comprehensive deal by July 1. The deal provisions the removal of all international sanctions on Iran and in return narrowing the range of the country's nuclear activities.