The Arak IR-40 heavy water reactor in Iran. Photo: Nanking2012/Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Iranian lawmakers have proposed a bill that will force the government to enrich uranium up to 60 percent “in order to provide fuel for submarine engines if the sanctions are tightened and Iran’s nuclear rights are ignored,” said hardline lawmaker Mehdi Mousavinejad, Reuters reported.

If passed, the bill would conflict with the recent deal, brokered by p5+1 powers in Geneva, which stipulated that Iran must stop enriching uranium beyond 5 percent and dilute all existing stockpiles already enriched to 20 percent. Hardline lawmakers in Iran oppose the deal.

The official Iranian IRNA news agency reported that 100 lawmakers introduced the new bill. “The bill is aimed at giving an upper hand to our government and the negotiating team … It will allow the government to continue our nuclear program if the Geneva deal fails,” said Hossein Taghavi Hosseini, spokesman for parliament’s National Security and Foreign Affairs committee, according to IRNA.

After the Geneva deal with Iran was brokered in November, Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents, told JNS.org that Iran’s “history is one of deception, manipulation, lying… and there’s nothing to indicate a change except the pressure of these sanctions and the internal Iranian reaction to them and the impact that [sanctions] had on the economy.”