ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Head of Iran’s atomic energy organization said on Sunday that he and the foreign minister have been threatened with execution by members of parliament over their nuclear deal with the Western powers, Iranian media reported.
“Someone has come and tell us ‘We will kill you and bury you under cement at the Arak reactor,’” Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the atomic energy organization told the Iranian parliament.
Arak is an underground reactor in central Iran which Tehran claims is being used for research purposes.
According to media reports out of Iran, a number of MPs jeered at Salehi and called him a liar as he delivered a speech about the implementation of the nuclear deal.
The Persian service of the BBC reported that Majid Ansari, an Iranian MP has confirmed the threats by some parliamentarians against Salehi and Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif.
Ansari added that the two officials—Salehi and Zarif—have received similar threats in the past.
Salehi and Zarif are hailed as architects of a nuclear deal they signed with the world powers P5+1 in Vienna in July.
The agreement will slow down Iran’s nuclear program for 10 years and in return the United States will lift its economic sanctions on Iran.
Meanwhile, Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported that the threats were made by Ruhullah Hosseinian, a hardline opponent of his country’s nuclear deal with the West.
Tensions rose inside parliament accompanied by sharp exchange of words and attacks on Salehi and Zarif when the two officials put before parliament a proposal for how the government should implement the terms of the nuclear deal.
A report by IRNA news agency also said that three MPs repeatedly interrupted Salehi’s speech and tried to bring him down from the podium when they were restrained by other MPs.
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