Hassan Rouhani: Future Presidents Will Have No Political Freedom Due to Guardian Council's Indictment

The former President of Iran reacted to the reasons for his disqualification in the sixth round of the Assembly of Experts elections by issuing a statement, calling the Guardian Council's letter an "indictment against the institution of the presidency" and stating that "future presidents will have no political freedom with this indictment." In the statement published on Tuesday, May 13, he did not disclose the text of the Guardian Council's letter regarding the reasons for his disqualification but revealed its main points. According to his statement, the Guardian Council accused Rouhani of "insulting the judiciary and the Guardian Council," "lack of political insight," "non-compliance with the Constitution," and "attacking genuine religious beliefs." The former president said, "What is mentioned in the letter of the Secretary of the Guardian Council as reasons for my disqualification in the Assembly elections is not only not a crime or even an offense but in some cases is a source of pride for me." Rouhani, who served as president from 2013 to 2021, has a history of representation in five terms of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, five terms of the Assembly of Experts, and 16 years as Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. He addressed the clerics of the Guardian Council, appointed by Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, asking, "In which elections and with the vote of which nation did these clerics gain the right to deprive the people's representatives of their right to choose?" and "Do the clerics of the Guardian Council have the necessary expertise to disqualify candidates based on what they call political knowledge and insight?" He further questioned, "You who accuse candidates of not knowing the people, how many times and in which competitive elections have you put yourselves to the people's vote?" The Guardian Council consists of six clerics and six jurists. The clerics are appointed by the Supreme Leader, and the jurists are elected by the Islamic Consultative Assembly after being introduced by the head of the judiciary, who is also appointed by the leader. Ahmad Jannati, 97 years old, is currently the Secretary of the Guardian Council, and according to Rouhani, he sent the letter of disqualification. The former president stated that the Guardian Council has not tolerated "the existence of an independent and critical movement during the sixth Assembly of Experts" because, according to him, this period of the Assembly of Experts is "a crucial and fateful period, and my presence and that of people like me in it is concerning for the clerics of the Guardian Council." Rouhani's reference seems to be to the old age of Ali Khamenei, who is currently 85 years old, and given the eight-year term of the Assembly of Experts, it is likely that its members will have the important task of determining the next leader of the Islamic Republic. The Assembly of Experts consists of 88 members who are elected from a list approved by the Guardian Council, and the clerics of the Guardian Council also qualify themselves to participate in this Assembly. Currently, the presidency of this Assembly is held by Ahmad Jannati. In another part of his statement, Rouhani revealed that the Secretary of the Guardian Council cited "the incorrect implementation of the JCPOA," the agreement between Iran and six world powers in July 2015 to resolve Tehran's nuclear program, as another reason for his disqualification. The former president questioned "the expertise, experience, and qualifications of the clerics of the council to evaluate the specialized performance of the government" and emphasized that "they have unwittingly questioned the political qualifications of a responsible figure of the Islamic Republic who has been the main architect and executor of the system's policies in facing global dominance for four decades," policies and actions that "have all been carried out with the approval of the leadership." He added that "the text of the nuclear agreement was approved after dozens of hours of discussion in the Supreme National Security Council, the Islamic Consultative Assembly approved it after dozens of hours of public review in a special committee and then in the open session of the Assembly, and the Guardian Council also approved it." According to Rouhani, "In the discussion of the method of implementing this agreement, it seems that the gentlemen are unaware that the implementation of the JCPOA was under the supervision of a committee formed by the order and appointment of the leadership, and this committee included the heads of the executive and legislative branches, representatives of the leadership in the Supreme National Security Council, the leadership's advisor on international affairs, and the ministers of foreign affairs and defense and the head of the Atomic Energy Organization, and all the resolutions of this committee were subject to the leadership's opinion." The nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers became very unstable after the United States withdrew from it during Donald Trump's presidency in May 2018 and intensified sanctions, and as a result, Iran has retreated from many of its commitments under the JCPOA in recent years and accelerated its uranium enrichment and production. According to the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran currently has the materials necessary to build a nuclear weapon within weeks. Recently, Kamal Kharrazi, an advisor to the Supreme Leader, threatened that "if Iran's existence is threatened, we may reconsider our nuclear doctrine." Rouhani accused "the opponents of the government in the Assembly and other institutions" of "preventing the revival of the JCPOA and the lifting of nuclear sanctions during the opportunity that arose from February 2021 to August 2021, and since then, noisy and pretentious negotiations have remained fruitless." This senior former official of the Islamic Republic referred to the approval of the "Strategic Action Law for the Lifting of Sanctions and Protection of the Rights of the Iranian Nation" in December 2020 in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, which the Supreme Leader has repeatedly praised. At that time, Rouhani announced that the government "disagrees with this law" and "considers it detrimental to the diplomatic process." Other officials of his government also opposed this law, which was passed simultaneously with the coming to power of Joe Biden in the United States and expectations for the revival of the JCPOA. Rouhani noted in another part of his statement that "both in the Islamic Consultative Assembly and in the Assembly of Experts, due to the design of the election executors and the Guardian Council, a minority has gained power over the majority" and accused the Guardian Council of having "made elections two-stage." The twelfth Assembly elections, which were held in two stages in February and May, witnessed the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic's elections. According to official statistics, in the second round of elections in the Tehran constituency, only "eight percent" of eligible voters participated, and some representatives entered the Assembly with only "three percent" of the votes cast. The former president of Iran stated that considering the reasons this council has given for his disqualification, "future presidents (if such an office and institution remains) must know that with this indictment, they will no longer even have political freedom and will not be able to perform their legal duties, and instead of the Constitution, they must be subject to the Guardian Council and suffice to be the presidency of the executive branch, even in terms of some administrative matters."