Internal Opposition Contained With the Talks

With the passage of 5 days since Hassan Rowhani and Barack Obama held a 15 minute telephone conversation and the absence of any reaction by the supreme leader of Iran regarding Rowhani’s trip to New York and his telephone chat with the US president, political observers believe that critics have been quietly contained.

The reduction in criticism of Rowhani’s administration, which has chosen flexibility in foreign relations, emerged when Israel’s hardline prime minister Netanyahu focused on the Rowhani-Obama talks in his conversations in Washington and objected to it to the effect that even the president of Israel said that he may have hurt its top and steady friend.

At the same time, the letter that a group of Majlis representatives have written in support of Rowhani’s administration regarding his trip to the UN General Assembly was signed b a record 230 deputies, which even included some key principlist representatives.

A look at the major newspaper appearing in Tehran, of the 40 articles in support of the administration and flexibility in the nuclear talks, only five articles that appeared in Kayhan, Javan and Resalat criticized the Rowhani-Obama telephone conversation.

Jaafar Shajooni, a member of the Jame Rohaniyat Mobarez, told Nasim website, “I pray to God that our story turns out right. Meaning that the US acts and at the least lifts the sanctions and they stop creating a hue and cry over the enrichment issue, while also stop sending terrorists to Islamic lands and Muslim occupied areas. If the Iranian nation is to really accept talks then there must also be proper indications from the US. Otherwise, when they told Mr. Rowhani that Obama wants to talk, his response was that we will talk. Foreign Minister Zarif said they contacted them six times. Mr. Rowhani was their guest and so they had the right to expect a hello. There is a long way to come to the actual talks. The cost of failure in the talks for us is huge. Otherwise, people will topple the administration. At the international level our respect will be all lost. God willing this will not happen (failure).”

Even the Fadayan Islam extremist group issued a statement calling for diplomacy and friendship for the purpose of attaining national interests.

Parts of the Majlis declaration signed by 230 deputies read, “We thank the wise and express posture that Dr Rowhani presented at the United Nations which is a dignified, peace-loving and friendly image of Iran regarding resolving regional and international issues.”

Amid this positive atmosphere, the remarks of the head of an import association, Mohammad Hossein Barkhordar regarding the Iran-US rapprochement made headlines. “Those who oppose Iran-US relations are in two groups: One views American ideology to be satanic and argue that America has done harm to Iran over the years. This group must be reminded that Iran today is strongest than it has been over the last 50 years. And while there are sanctions against us, we are strategically in a situation that they cannot have anything other than peaceful relations with us. The second group however comprises of people who are and want to use any situation to advance their personal interests. These people pursue their profits even when goods are in shortage. They store goods in order to release them at a time when they can make the most profits on them.”

Prior to this, the editor of hardline Kayhan newspaper who is directly appointed by ayatollah Khamenei had written that Rowhani’s last leg of his trip was “unfortunate” and the biggest “advantage” had been given to the US.

A principlist Majlis representative Hamid Rasai who is a member of the Jebhe Paydari (the Steadfast Front) echoed these words and asked what has been achieved by ending the “No to the US” policy of 34 years.

Yesterday however, Kayhan’s tone was milder. It wrote that the anger that Israel had presented over the Iran-US developments indicated that the Iranian delegation at the UN had performed positively, even though the edit wrote that no new initiative against Israel had been launched. It then concluded that Israel should have really been happy over the Iranian delegations performance in New York because the Iranian team gave an “unprecedented” benefit to Israel.

These remarks come after the comments of the deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi who last week said that ayatollah Khamenei had not been against talks between Iran and the US and that the decision to not meet Obama was made by Rowhani himself.