Khamenei's Representative in Khorasan Razavi: Iran Has Lost Everything in a Sinister Triangle

The representative of Ayatollah Khamenei in Khorasan Razavi province criticized Hassan Rouhani's government once again on Wednesday, September 8, stating that it "deceived the people" regarding the nuclear deal (JCPOA) and spoke of a "sinister triangle" that has caused Iran to "lose its independence." Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda, speaking at a gathering of Friday prayer leaders in Khorasan Razavi, identified the "sinister triangle" as consisting of the JCPOA, "oil contracts," and the controversy over "money laundering," which he claims has led to the loss of Iran's independence. He stated, "We have now lost everything in a sinister triangle and have lost our independence; one side of this triangle is the JCPOA; everyone said from the beginning that economic problems would not be resolved until sanctions were lifted, and all sanctions are linked to the nuclear energy process." According to Tasnim News Agency, this conservative cleric claims that the JCPOA has not yielded results, and referring to Rouhani's government, he added, "The essence of the negotiations was the current government's line to solve economic problems and lift sanctions, and officials said sanctions would be lifted, but today they say 'we didn't sign the JCPOA to lift sanctions at all.' So did you deceive the people? Were the statements you made lies?" He had previously likened Hassan Rouhani to a "naive" person who claimed that "the JCPOA gave us dignity." Iran and six world powers reached an agreement in July 2015 to resolve Tehran's nuclear program, agreeing that in exchange for halting or limiting many of the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities, crippling international sanctions against it would be lifted or reduced. Despite the lifting of sanctions last December, Iranian officials have repeatedly complained that financial and banking barriers to investment and transferring money to Iran remain in place. Meanwhile, the U.S. has stated that it has fulfilled its commitments under the JCPOA and that Iran must regain the trust of foreign banks and investors. The Friday prayer leader of Mashhad identified the second and third sides of the so-called "sinister triangle" as "oil contracts" and "money laundering discussions," stating, "Entities that have been sanctioned in banking relations have reached a stage of self-sanctioning." He added, "Bank Mellat has informed the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters that we will block your account, and you are a sanctioned entity, and your assets must be blocked according to a contract we have with the U.S. Bank Sepah has also similarly stated that we have reached a stage of self-sanctioning today." It seems that Ayatollah Alamolhoda's remarks refer to the recent controversy over Iran's cooperation with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, which conservatives argue targets entities like the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that are on the U.S. sanctions list for supporting militia groups in Iraq, Lebanon, and other parts of the Middle East. The FATF had previously announced that Iran had committed to taking actions to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. This group removed Iran from the blacklist of countries suspected of money laundering for one year to improve its performance in this area. The representative of the Supreme Leader in Khorasan Razavi, referring to this agreement that began during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, stated that "our banks are self-sanctioning." As Ahmad Alavi, an economic expert, told Radio Farda, the eleventh government seeks to remove Iran from the list of high-risk countries in international trade and financial matters and supports the agreement with the FATF working group. He added that the condition for expanding cooperation between global banks and Iran's banking system in the post-JCPOA period is the compliance of Iranian banks with global regulations, including combating money laundering. Otherwise, global banks are unwilling to open their doors to the financial and credit system of Iranian banks because this system is at risk of money laundering and abuse. Ali Tayebnia, Iran's Minister of Economy, stated on Tuesday night that without cooperation with the FATF, there would still be no possibility of international banking transactions despite the lifting of nuclear sanctions. Ayatollah Alamolhoda also referred to the issue of oil contracts, which have become a point of contention between Hassan Rouhani's government and conservatives in recent months, accusing the Ministry of Oil of wanting to give ownership of Iran's oil wells to American and French companies. He stated, "Today, they are signing contracts with American and French companies to give them ownership of our oil wells. Such a thing has not even happened in Saudi Arabia." Previous contracts in Iran were based on "buy-back" agreements, meaning the foreign company only entered the oil project as a contractor and received its profit after the project was launched and delivered. However, the new contracts are long-term, lasting 20 to 25 years, and the foreign contracting company will hold ownership of a percentage of the produced oil until the extraction of the oil and gas reserves is completed. Some officials from the Ministry of Oil and members of parliament have stated that Iran is losing eight to ten billion dollars monthly due to delays in implementing oil contracts.