Critics of Beheshtian Attack Zarif and Question Negotiations with Trump Administration

Four days after the remarks of Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Vice President, on the sidelines of the Davos Economic Forum, attacks from critics against the government of Masoud Beheshtian and the proposal for negotiations with the new Donald Trump administration have increased. Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, said on Sunday, February 26, that system officials should not cause a 'miscalculation' for Donald Trump, the President of the United States, with their statements. In his speech, he referred to 'different positions from various factions' in the Islamic Republic regarding Trump's return to the White House. Qalibaf stated: 'Those who are considered system officials must be careful in their statements so that the message sent to the enemy does not endanger national interests.' Without naming Zarif, he implicitly referred to his remarks in Davos and added: 'Bringing up internal issues and disagreements in international environments is considered a weakening of the unity of the Iranian nation against foreign enemies. A perception of weakness from the powerful Iranian system leads to a miscalculation by the new American president and increases economic pressures on the country.' Qalibaf claimed that positions similar to Zarif's current stance during Trump's previous presidency 'not only did not lead to any breakthrough but also resulted in the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA' and the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Axios reported that Iran has proposed negotiations for a new nuclear agreement to Trump. On February 22, Zarif spoke in Switzerland about the new U.S. administration and its policy towards the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, stating that none of those who caused the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA in Trump's previous administration are present in the new administration and called for the second Trump administration to act 'more realistically' regarding the Islamic Republic. He also mentioned that if Saeed Jalili had become the president of Iran, a 'great war' might have occurred in the region. This comes amid reports suggesting the possibility of a revival of the U.S.'s 'maximum pressure' campaign against the Islamic Republic. Besides Qalibaf, other members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly also took a stance against Zarif. Abdolhossein Rouholamini, a conservative member of parliament, said: 'Repeatedly, we have heard from him [Zarif] and some officials about the readiness for direct negotiations with the U.S., statements that resulted in nothing but the foreign side becoming bolder, and an example of this was the UN Secretary-General's statement regarding Iran, which was met with a timely and revolutionary response from the esteemed Foreign Minister.' Additionally, Hamid Rasai, a hardliner in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, once again called Zarif's appointment in the government 'illegal' and demanded action from the parliament and judiciary regarding this issue. On Saturday, a group of government opponents participated in a gathering known as the 'Shroud Wearers' gathering' near the presidential office on Pasteur Street, during which Kamran Ghazanfari, a representative from Tehran, severely attacked Zarif, claiming that the strategic deputy of the president 'went to America with the support of SAVAK before the revolution.' The state news agency IRNA responded to these remarks on Sunday, stating that Ghazanfari 'distorted a sentence from Zarif's memoirs and committed a fallacy by generalizing a part to the whole.' The holding of this gathering was even criticized by the conservative newspaper 'Hamshahri,' which wrote that this 'weakens the rule of law in society and allows anyone to shout and impose their views.' However, opponents of the government also used Zarif's remarks about mandatory hijab as a pretext to attack him. Zarif stated that the Islamic Republic 'has decided' not to pressure women regarding mandatory hijab. Hamid Davoodi, the Friday prayer leader of Alamut in Qazvin province, reacted to these remarks by saying: 'You are wrong to speak on behalf of the government in Davos.' Mohammad Manan, a representative from Qom in parliament, also referred to Zarif's comments in Davos, stating that he 'mocked God's clear decree' and called for the judiciary to take action against him. However, it seems that the attacks on Zarif regarding mandatory hijab are a marginal issue, and the main concern of government opponents is the potential for dialogue with the new American administration. Previously, several officials in Masoud Beheshtian's government had raised such a possibility. For example, Ali Abdolalizadeh, the special representative of the president for the development of the marine economy, stated that dialogue with the U.S. is necessary. Government opponents described Abdolalizadeh's remarks as a 'delusional' view of international relations and stated that previous negotiations led to the JCPOA, which they do not accept. In such circumstances, where Beheshtian's government is under pressure from critics, several political activists have told the 'Ham-Mihan' newspaper that the government should not be afraid of these attacks. Nasser Imani, a political analyst, told the newspaper: 'I am not afraid of opposition and dissent at all. Let there be different opinions, and this should be the case in every government. Were there not people who opposed the government in the previous administration?' However, Ahmad Zeidabadi, a journalist and former political prisoner, warned that if as a result of such opposition, Beheshtian also suffers the fate of Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani and his government becomes ineffective, his selection as president would have been pointless.