Indirect Debate Between Saeed Hajarian and Abbas Abdi

The newspaper Ebtekar, in its Wednesday issue, quoted President Hassan Rouhani as saying, "If we reach a final result in these negotiations, it will be beneficial for Iran, the region, the world, and the 1+5, so let’s do something that benefits everyone." The newspaper also noted, "As we gradually approach the Nowruz holidays, diplomats are still busy. Switzerland is the warm gathering place for Iran's nuclear negotiation team, which is going through busy days." Meanwhile, Mohammad Javad Zarif announced that "starting Wednesday, the political directors of all three European countries, along with the political directors of China and Russia, will join the negotiators to assist in discussions in the final days of this round of negotiations," while Ali Akbar Salehi expressed "optimism about the negotiations" and stated that "almost ninety percent of technical issues have been resolved, with only one remaining." Ebtekar emphasized that "these news pieces together form the puzzle of a comprehensive agreement." The newspaper Kayhan criticized Zarif's remarks regarding the potential approval of an agreement between Iran and the 1+5 countries in "a Chapter Seven resolution of the United Nations Charter," stating that such approval would undoubtedly be a damaging act and a serious threat to the security of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Concurrently, Nasser Hadian, a political science professor at Tehran University, emphasized in an interview with Iran newspaper the necessity of the potential agreement between Iran and the 1+5 being approved by the UN Security Council, stating, "The Security Council, as a credible international body, is a good guarantor for the implementation of the agreement and the commitment of the parties to their obligations. On the other hand, some sanctions have been imposed against Iran by the Security Council, so issuing a resolution from this council to lift these sanctions is essential." The newspaper Arman, while publishing a report on the "indirect debate between Saeed Hajarian and Abbas Abdi," wrote that Hajarian's statements that "the potential failure of Rouhani's government will not be a failure for reformists" were met with a reaction from Abbas Abdi. Abdi, whom Arman referred to as the "theorist of moving beyond Khatami" during the reform period, criticized Hajarian, stating that the failure of Hassan Rouhani's government "at this stage is not a failure of reform, as reform does not have a significant presence in the real political arena; rather, this failure is at the national level." The newspaper Shargh highlighted the remarks and "narrative" of Shahindokht Molaverdi, Rouhani's deputy, regarding her visit to "Qarchak Prison" coinciding with reports about the poor conditions of "Tehran's only women's prison." According to this newspaper, Molaverdi also announced that "the presence of women in stadiums is being reviewed by the Supreme National Security Council" and stated, "Regarding women's presence in stadiums, according to a plan previously announced, a joint committee with the Ministry of Sports and Youth was held, and it was decided that the results and proposals from that meeting would be sent to the Supreme National Security Council, where the final decision will be made, and the final results have not yet been announced." The newspaper Shahrevand reported, quoting the Tehran prosecutor, on the arrest of nine people in the case of "unauthorized eye medications." Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi also mentioned the "formation of a judicial case for some officials related to health and safety" on charges of "negligence and carelessness," but did not refer to their positions or names. The newspaper Etemad published a report about the "end of three years of silence for orchestras," stating that on March 15, the Tehran Symphony Orchestra performed "Beethoven's Symphony No. 9," marking this day as "the day of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra's resumption of work" after nearly three years of complete silence, during which all its activities had been suspended. This newspaper noted the promises made by officials of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and also by Hassan Rouhani to restart "both the symphonic and national orchestras," stating, "Even the President himself had made promises in this regard, and finally, after numerous controversies and many troubles, the Tehran Symphony Orchestra officially began its work under the direction of Ali Rahbari." Kayhan: Approval of the agreement under "Chapter Seven of the UN Charter" is a serious threat. The newspaper Kayhan, in its editorial on Wednesday, criticized Mohammad Javad Zarif's remarks about the potential approval of an agreement between Iran and the 1+5 countries in "a Chapter Seven resolution of the UN Charter," stating that such approval would undoubtedly be a damaging act and a serious threat to the security of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This newspaper recalled that Zarif, in an interview with the weekly Seda, discussed how to "guarantee" the implementation of the potential agreement, stating that the potential agreement between Iran and the 1+5 would be "approved in a Chapter Seven resolution of the UN Charter, thus becoming an international and binding agreement for all governments." Hussein Shariatmadari, the representative of the Supreme Leader in Kayhan, however, wrote in an editorial titled "They Dance Without Music," stating, "The title of Chapter Seven of the UN Charter is 'Action in Cases of Threat to Peace, Breach of Peace, and Acts of Aggression,' and 'accepting a Chapter Seven resolution means that the Islamic Republic of Iran also defines its nuclear activities under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, implying an implicit acceptance that Iran's nuclear program is a threat to peace, a breach of peace, and an aggressive act.'" The editorial writer of Kayhan, however, implicitly points out that "the Security Council's sanctions against the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran were imposed and approved based on Article 41 of Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, and the sanctions of the United States and the European Union were also based on this," but wrote that "from the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran, this resolution is illegal, and now 'submitting to a Chapter Seven resolution that the foreign minister has mentioned means that the Islamic Republic of Iran also acknowledges the non-peaceful nature of its nuclear program.'" This newspaper warned the negotiating team of the Islamic Republic, stating, "Since the foreign minister has indicated the possibility of accepting a Chapter Seven resolution, and this action, if carried out, will have damaging and irreparable consequences, there was no choice but to warn, as 'the opponent has shown that they dance without music, let alone that the Chapter Seven instrument is tuned.'" Iran newspaper: Chapter Seven sanctions require a Security Council resolution for lifting sanctions. Simultaneously, Nasser Hadian, a political science professor at Tehran University, emphasized in an interview with Iran newspaper the necessity of the potential agreement between Iran and the 1+5 being approved by the UN Security Council, stating, "The Security Council, as a credible international body, is a good guarantor for the implementation of the agreement and the commitment of the parties to their obligations. On the other hand, some sanctions have been imposed against Iran by the Security Council, so issuing a resolution from this council to lift these sanctions is essential." Nasser Hadian, in an interview with Iran newspaper regarding the importance of Security Council approval of the agreement and its difference from an agreement between Iran and the 1+5 without Security Council approval, discussed the "comprehensive" and potentially significant agreement between Iran and the 1+5 countries, stating, "Two issues are considered in the potential agreement by the parties: detection and nuclear breakout; detection means that the opposing party implements a system to quickly identify violations by any of the agreement's members. Therefore, they have considered a very robust verification system that includes monitoring and extensive testing and precise oversight of Iran's nuclear programs to quickly detect any potential violation of Iran's commitments." According to Nasser Hadian, "The other issue is nuclear breakout, meaning the opposing party seeks to impose various restrictions, including limits on the number and type of centrifuges, the amount of enrichment reserves, and also limitations on sites, restricting methods of uranium enrichment and closing other pathways to obtaining a nuclear bomb to increase the nuclear breakout time." Nasser Hadian told Iran newspaper, "Iran is currently accepting limitations, but expects sanctions to be lifted and the European reward system to be implemented, a proposal that was raised by European countries about ten years ago but was never implemented." Iran newspaper quoted Nasser Hadian as saying, "Iran now accepts limitations, but expects sanctions to be lifted and the reward system to return to the negotiating table. The main discussion now is about how to lift the sanctions. Iran wants all EU sanctions, part of the UN sanctions (conditional on responding to our questions regarding the potential militarization of Iran), and sanctions imposed due to executive orders from the US president to be lifted immediately (after a three to four month implementation period), but the opposing party prefers to lift the sanctions in a classified manner." According to Nasser Hadian, "The main point is that if the balance between inputs and outputs is established, in case of a violation of commitments by one party, the other party can quickly compensate and return everything to the previous state. If they do not lift all sanctions immediately, we will not give them all the concessions at once; in this case, we will maintain the necessary infrastructure to have the ability to compensate for their breach of commitments." According to Iran newspaper, Nasser Hadian emphasized that "if this agreement is placed under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, it will gain significant enforcement guarantees, and in such a situation, the motivation of the parties to evade their commitments will decrease," stating, "The Security Council, as a credible international body, is a good guarantor for the implementation of the agreement and the commitment of the parties to their obligations. On the other hand, some sanctions have been imposed against Iran by the Security Council, so issuing a resolution from this council to lift these sanctions is essential. The Security Council has imposed sanctions against Iran, and the approval of the agreement by this council prepares the ground for the timely cancellation of previous sanction resolutions. Some of these sanctions will be lifted in exchange for our current commitments, and others will be lifted in the future after we fulfill our future commitments and respond to questions regarding the potential militarization." The political science professor at Tehran University reminded Iran newspaper that "according to the latest Security Council resolution, the issue of Iran's nuclear program is introduced under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter as a threat to international peace and security. This same resolution gives the world countries the possibility of a potential military attack on Iran; however, the approval of the agreement by the Security Council undermines the basis of this resolution, allowing Iran to return the situation to normal and close the file of Iran's nuclear program from the perspective of being under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter.