Experts of the Assembly Emphasize the Implementation of Supervisory Oversight by the Guardian Council

Following the reaction of the Chairman of the Assembly of Experts to Hassan Rouhani's remarks about the oversight of the Guardian Council, members of the Assembly also called on this Council to exercise "supervisory oversight" with "necessary precision" in evaluating qualifications. According to Mehr News Agency, the final statement of the eighteenth session of the Assembly of Experts on Wednesday, September 2, emphasized that "weakening any of the pillars of governance... by officials and political currents is against the public interests of society and allows enemies to infiltrate." One day before the publication of the Assembly's statement, Mohammad Yazdi, the Chairman of the Assembly, emphasized that "the Guardian Council is an election observer, and its oversight is supervisory, not merely observational." On August 19, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, implicitly protested against the widespread disqualification of election candidates, stating that the Guardian Council is "an observer, not an executor," and the executive body "must determine whether a person is qualified to participate in the elections or not." These remarks provoked a strong reaction from several appointees of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, including the Chief Justice, commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, and Friday prayer leaders, who accused Rouhani of "weakening" the Guardian Council. After these reactions, the President emphasized in a press conference with reporters that he would fulfill his duties as "the executor of the Constitution." He stated on Saturday, September 6, that "some may be happy and some may not. But in any case, we must be the executors of the law and not concern ourselves with the rest." In their statement, the representatives of the Assembly of Experts also called on the Supreme National Security Council and representatives of the Islamic Consultative Assembly to consider constitutional principles, the Supreme Leader's statements, "the red lines of the system," and "the supreme interests of the country" in their review of the Vienna nuclear agreement to prevent "any deception, excessive demands, and potential exploitation by the U.S. and its allies." This statement was released just hours after Abbas Araqchi, a senior member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, emphasized in a meeting with the representatives of the Assembly of Experts that "red lines" were respected in the nuclear negotiations with the 5+1 group and "the interests of the system" were secured. News agencies reported that Ali-Asghar Dashtgheib, a representative from Fars province in the Assembly of Experts, stated that Araqchi announced in this meeting that "red lines" were observed regarding oversight of Iran's nuclear program and that there is "no access" for inspectors to "missile weapons and what is considered confidential." On Tuesday, Saeed Jalili, the former head of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, also said at the Assembly of Experts meeting that "when the eleventh government took over the nuclear project, the opposing side... had announced its practical readiness to form a nuclear deal and to enter the issue of lifting sanctions, including unilateral sanctions." Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not explicitly stated his opinion on the text of the Vienna nuclear agreement, but some of his close associates, including Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad, and Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor-in-chief of Kayhan newspaper, have described this agreement as "crossing and transgressing" the Supreme Leader's red lines and emphasized that Ayatollah Khamenei is not satisfied with this agreement. Nevertheless, the office of the Supreme Leader announced on Tuesday that his positions have been stated in his recent speeches and that "any attribution of statements outside this framework is invalid."