Ahmad Khatami: Opponents of the JCPOA Commission Act Against the Supreme Leader

Ahmad Khatami, the Friday prayer leader of Tehran, on Thursday, October 2, during the Eid al-Adha prayer sermon, accused those who, according to him, are "attacking" the JCPOA review commission in the parliament of acting "against the constitution and the Supreme Leader." According to ISNA news agency, Mr. Khatami, referring to the statements of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic regarding the review of the Vienna nuclear agreement in parliament, emphasized that the law has granted the special commission for the JCPOA the authority to review this agreement. He added: "Those who attack the parliament regarding the JCPOA review are acting against the constitution and against the leadership." While the spokesperson for the JCPOA commission announced that the final report of this commission would be presented to the public session next week, one of the members of this commission stated that the differences of opinion regarding the final report are such that it is possible for two different reports to emerge from this commission. Alireza Zakani, the head of the commission, along with Mahmoud Nabavian, Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi, Mehrdad Bazrpash, Ismail Kowsari, Ebrahim Karami, and Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, are among the serious critics of the Vienna nuclear agreement in parliament. In contrast, a number of representatives supporting the JCPOA held a meeting this week to discuss ways to counter the "obstruction by JCPOA opponents." Mr. Khatami, in another part of his speech, said: "More important than the JCPOA itself are the issues after the JCPOA, and the U.S. wants to say that after the JCPOA, the ice between the two countries has melted, but this is not the case; we are enemies with the U.S." He added: "We must be careful that the U.S. does not use the JCPOA as a window for economic, political, and worse, cultural infiltration into Iran." The Friday prayer leader of Tehran emphasized that after the lifting of nuclear sanctions, the U.S. "will seek human rights sanctions against Iran." Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, and his close associates have repeatedly accused the U.S. of attempting to "infiltrate" Iran after the Vienna nuclear agreement. On September 16, Mr. Khamenei accused "foreigners" of trying to achieve their goals after his leadership and "infiltrate decision-making and policymaking centers" of the system, and asked the commanders of the IRGC and the country's "elites" to strengthen the foundations of revolutionary thought and spirit so that nothing disrupts this path after him. On the same day, Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the IRGC Quds Force, stated that the goal of the Europeans from their "extensive presence and emergence" in Iran, in coordination with the U.S., is to "create a bipolarity within society," "raise demands in public opinion," and "remove the discussion of the long-standing conflict between the U.S. and the West with Iran." In this context, Zarif announced a meeting with the foreign ministers of the 1+5 in New York for the implementation of the JCPOA. Araqchi was appointed to follow up on the JCPOA; an urgent plan for the JCPOA was presented in parliament; Rafsanjani warned about "obstruction" in the path of the nuclear agreement; and the report of the JCPOA commission is on the verge of being presented to the public session.