Jeffrey LewisParis Negotiations Update 3: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

In an earlier post, I noted that the Iranian parliament passed a bill requiring the government to continue the peaceful nuclear program, but that “the bill does not direct the government to resume uranium enrichment or end U.N. inspections.”

Reuters and AP are running contradictory stories:

TEHRAN (Reuters) – To cries of “Death to America” and “God is Greatest” Iran’s hard-liner-dominated parliament passed a bill on Sunday obliging the government to go on trying to develop a civilian nuclear energy program. The proposal, backed by 247 of parliament’s 290 lawmakers, did not specifically force the government to resume uranium enrichment or end snap U.N. inspections of atomic facilities as some lawmakers had called for.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP)—Defiant lawmakers—shouting “Death to America’’—unanimously voted Sunday to approve the outline of a bill requiring the government to resume uranium enrichment, a move likely to deepen an international dispute over Tehran’s atomic activities.

Well, which is it?

The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) is super vague about the final bill . Reuters and IRNA suggest there was another bill, which would resume enrichment, that was withdrawn. Reuters even carries a comment by a frustrated lawmaker, Saeed Abutaleb, who “said the bill approved on Sunday was too soft.” “We must vote for a bill which puts an end to the (voluntary) suspension of uranium enrichment instead,” he told Reuters.

AP claims to have actually seen a copy of the text (running a vague quote) and quoting a Parliamentarian, Hossein Afrideh, to make the case that “the government would be required to resume actual enrichment of uranium …” “This legislation will make it an obligation for the government to pursue the cycle of nuclear fuel including actual uranium enrichment,” Afrideh told AP.

Reuters offers a different vote count (247 of 290) than the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (238 of 290) account.

The english link of the Majils (Islamic Consultative Assembly) website doesn’t work.

Note: The titles of all posts regarding the Iran-EU3 negotiations have been given the prefix “Paris Negotiations Update n.”