Jazayeri: Negotiating with the Enemy Cannot Be Compared to the Work of Warriors in War

After the incomplete speech of Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the spokesperson for Hassan Rouhani's government in Hoveyzeh, the spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran criticized Nobakht's remarks, stating that "no one has the right" to compare the work of Iranian "warriors" in the war with Iraq to "sitting around the negotiating table with the enemy." According to Fars News Agency, Masoud Jazayeri emphasized on Saturday, April 7, that the work of Iran's nuclear negotiation team "even if it reached a suitable result," cannot be compared to the work of Iranian military personnel in the war with Iraq and "today's defenders of the shrine." Jazayeri stated that Iranian military forces in the war with Iraq "preserved the territorial integrity of the country, the system, and the revolution from the clutches of enemies, primarily the United States, and this great work ... cannot be measured by the results of any political negotiation." Before this military official's remarks, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht's speech to visitors of the remnants of the Iran-Iraq war in Hoveyzeh, Khuzestan province, was interrupted due to repeated slogans from some attendees. Nobakht had stated in this speech that "breaking the chains of sanctions is similar to the feeling experienced during advances in operations during the Sacred Defense era." According to Fars News Agency and several news websites, following Nobakht's comments comparing the lifting of sanctions to military operations during the Iran-Iraq war, a group of attendees chanted slogans such as "Hope and Prudence Government, Insight, Insight" and "Death to America." The visits to the remnants of the Iran-Iraq war, known as "Karun's Rayhan-e Noor," are organized in coordination with the Basij Organization. Reports indicate that previously, speeches by several political figures have been interrupted due to disruptions by "Basij forces." For instance, on Tuesday, December 7, 2015, the speeches of Azar Mansouri and Jahangir Khanjani, two reformist activists, at Shahid Chamran University in Ahvaz were not held due to a gathering of student Basij forces and their "attack" on Azar Mansouri. Ali Motahari, a representative from Tehran in Parliament, implicitly identified some of the attackers against him in Shiraz on March 9, 2015, as being affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Motahari's lawyer has reported that the second phase of the court proceedings for this incident is "on the agenda of the military prosecutor's office."