Replies to Khamenei’s Letter

RoozOnline

Just a few days after ayatollah Khamenei’s public letter conditionally approving the July 14 nuclear deal reached between Iran and the six major world powers (known as JCPOA), Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani responded with his own letter. The letter comes as the country’s hardliners continue their criticism of the nuclear deal and now the target of their protests is none other than the parliament for “a weak response” to the nuclear deal which they claim prompted Khamenei to write his public letter.

In his letter, Rouhani says the JCPOA is “The beginning of a new chapter of growth for the Islamic republic” and adds that the government and the negotiations team strived “To underscore the principles that your excellency have stressed during the course of the hard but pride-creating talks.”

According to Rouhani, the JCPOA was an accomplishment that was not possible during the time of the previous negotiations team of “tensions filled with threats rising by the day, while it has now created opportunities for achievements that were unimaginable to ‘many.’”

Khamenei’s letter last week to Rouhani, approves the decision of Iran’s national security council regarding the JCPOA but adds nine new conditions for the implementation of the historic agreement.

In his letter, Khamenei commends the “alertness” of the officials of the Islamic republic during the talks, who in his words “succeeded in preventing serious harm in many cases” and yet the JCPOA contains “numerous ambiguous points and structural weaknesses which if not attended to carefully and minutely, could bring major damage to the country now and in future.”

Khamenei’s letter says “the acceptance” of talks by Iran was primarily for the purpose of “lifting the oppressive economic and financial sanctions” which is why he calls for guarantees for preventing similar future acts. He also calls on the US president and the head of the EU to “completely lift the sanctions” adding that any notes about “keeping the structure of the sanctions in place would constitute a violation of the JCPOA.”

Rouhani’s letter is in fact a response to some of the conditions laid out by Khamenei’s letter and his comments on the nuclear deal. He says Iran’s right to enrich and have a heavy water reactor are recognized by the United Nations for the first time ever. “The oppressive sanctions have been lifted. On Adoption day, the president of the United States and the council of foreign ministers of the European Union issued an official written statement announced the lifting of all the oppressive and illegal economic and financial sanctions according to their obligations in the JCPOA and published these as their legal documents in their official newspapers.”

But despite Khamenei’s letter, the hardliners in Iran continue to criticize the JCPOA and especially its approval in the Majlis. Hamid Rasai for example, who is a well-known hardliners and a member of the Steadfast Front wrote in Raja News website about this and pointing to 20 important points raised in ayatollah Khamenei’s letter said, “Why would a president who has until now (the approval of the JCPOA) not observed the many red lines and principles of the constitution start observing them during the implementation period of the deal? This is a serious concern. This letter (a reference to Rouhani’s letter) does not remove the concerns and we must be watchful of the president’s actions in respect to the requirements created by the supreme leader; something that unfortunately is not displayed well in the letter. When ayatollah Khamenei says sanctions must be lifted and their structure removed we are surprised to read in Mr. Rouhani’s letter that ‘sanctions have been lifted and their structure has been broken.”

When the Majlis was discussing government measures in implementing the JCPOA, news reports indicated that a joint meeting was held in which Ali Shamkhani, Ali Larijani and Ali-Asqar Hejazi (from ayatollah Khamenei’s office) had been held. According to Rasai, Ali Larijani had told members of the Majlis, “Mr. Hejazi contacted me a few days ago and asked why the Majlis did not make a decision on the JCPOA?” suggesting that Hejazi was demanding a quick decision.

Hardliners in Iran interpret Khamenei’s remarks and notes on the JCPOA to be confirming what they argue they have been saying all along about the nuclear deal (that it is weak and does not meet the security and other needs of Iran). They criticize Larijani and other Majlis members to hastily writing up a resolution to support the implementation of the JCPOA.

Generally, they believe that if the Majlis, and specifically speaker Larijani, had allowed the Majlis to use the report of the special committee set up to study the JCPOA – instead of raising the issue at Majlis political factions and then passing their conclusions to the national security committee of the Majlis, there would have been no need for the supreme leader to intervene in the issue and announce new conditions for the implementation of the JCPOA.

On its website Raja News editorialized that in additional to various structural weaknesses of the JCPOA, supervisory agencies of the Islamic republic such as the national security council overseen by the president with Ali Shamkhani acting as its secretary and the Majlis led by Larijani failed to remove the problems with the JCPOA by adding specific conditions for its implementation. This is what forced ayatollah Khamenei to intervene and announce his own nine conditions.