Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged on Thursday for a parliament vote on the nuclear deal reached in July between Iran and the world powers.

"I believe, as I have told President Hassan Rouhani, that it is not in the interest of the country to sideline Majlis on nuclear deal," Ayatollah said, according to the leader's website.

"I do not ask the Majlis to reject or ratify the deal. It is up to the Majlis representatives to decide on that," he said in a meeting with a number of senior clerics.

Some Iranian governmental officials have opposed such a vote on the nuclear deal, saying that the vote would bring legal obligations to Iran over the implementation of the deal.

The Iranian parliament needs a bill from the government to review and vote on the deal.

On Thursday, Khamenei also said that sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear program "should be lifted, not suspended."

"The objective of nuclear talks was the lift of sanctions ... If the sanctions are not removed, then there would be no deal," he said.

Khamenei added that if the sanctions against Iran are only suspended, Iran will also suspend its nuclear activities and will not do any measure beyond that.

Iran and the P5+1 group -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China plus Germany -- reached a comprehensive deal on Tehran's nuclear program on July 14, resolving the decade-long issue.

The landmark deal would curb Iran's nuclear program to a significant extent in return for the removal of western and international sanctions against the country. Endit

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