Government Officials Welcome Approval of JCPOA Plan

While officials from Hassan Rouhani's government welcomed the approval of the general outlines of the plan related to his nuclear agreement in the parliamentary session on Sunday, reactions to the events of the day, including tensions between Ali Akbar Salehi and Rouhollah Hosseinian, the representative from Tehran, continue. Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization, on Tuesday, October 20, referred to the government's welcoming of the approval of the 'Iran's Proportional Action Plan in Implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action' and stated that the government would act on the 'recommendations' of the members of parliament in implementing the nuclear agreement in Vienna. According to the House of Representatives news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Hassan Qashqavi, the parliamentary deputy of the Iranian Foreign Minister, also welcomed the parliamentary resolution, stating that 'the outcome of the JCPOA in the Islamic Consultative Assembly is positive.' Abbas Araghchi, a senior member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, who has been appointed by the Foreign Minister to follow up on the implementation of the JCPOA, stated that this plan has been able to meet the 'expectations' of the Foreign Ministry. On Sunday, shortly after the general outlines of the JCPOA plan were approved in parliament, Mr. Araghchi said that with the approval of the general outlines of the nuclear agreement plan, the new phase of the implementation of the Vienna nuclear agreement would likely begin next Tuesday. However, he announced on Tuesday that after the final approval of the parliamentary plan and its confirmation by the Guardian Council, 'it can be said that the legal stages related to the JCPOA in Iran have been completed and we will be ready to enter the next phase, which will be recorded as the day of approval.' Mr. Araghchi also responded to the 'threat' from Ali Akbar Salehi by Rouhollah Hosseinian, saying, 'I don’t think the honorable representative who made such a statement had a serious intention, although his demeanor was serious.' Rouhollah Hosseinian, a member of the Front of Steadfastness, told Ali Akbar Salehi in the Sunday session, 'If I come to power, I will bury you in the Arak reactor and pour cement over you.' Several eyewitnesses, including Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization, Kamal Pir-Mohammadi, a member of parliament, and Majid Ansari, the parliamentary deputy of the President, confirmed Mr. Hosseinian's statement. Khamaleddin Pir-Mohammadi, a representative from Ardabil, also reported that Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Foreign Minister, was threatened in the parliament, stating that 'Salehi was threatened with death and Zarif was threatened with execution.' However, Hamid Rasai, another member of the Front of Steadfastness in parliament, on Tuesday described Mr. Hosseinian's statements as 'jokes' and accused Mr. Salehi of 'playing the victim from the podium of parliament instead of responding to numerous criticisms.' Mr. Rasai's statement comes as Gholamreza Tajgardoon, head of the Parliament's Planning and Budget Commission, wrote on his Instagram page that Rouhollah Hosseinian told him regarding the reason for his comments, 'I wanted to make (Salehi) angry, and I succeeded.' Meanwhile, the Minister of Intelligence stated that 'the bad behavior of some members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in the JCPOA approval session is unacceptable, and they must reconsider their behavior.' According to the IRNA news agency, Mahmoud Alavi emphasized that in a survey by the Ministry of Intelligence, '86 percent of the people supported the government and the negotiating team.' In response to these reactions, a member of the Supervisory Board on the Behavior of Representatives described such discussions in parliament as 'natural' and emphasized that 'such events occur in all parliaments around the world.' According to the state news agency IRNA, Mohammad Hossein Mir-Mohammadi stated that 'Mr. Salehi and that representative should not have raised these issues in the open session of parliament.' Concurrently with these reactions, Iranian media reported that Rouhollah Hosseinian was hospitalized due to 'heart issues' after the events of Sunday, and Ali Akbar Salehi visited him. On Sunday, several members of parliament also announced that they had received 'targeted and threatening' text messages from senders demanding the rejection of the plan related to the Vienna nuclear agreement. Meanwhile, Ezzat Heydarpoor, a member of the Supervisory Board on the Behavior of Representatives, announced on Tuesday that these text messages were not sent from within the parliament and that their sending was 'managed' from outside the parliament.