Motahari: Karimi Qodosi Misrepresented Confidential Information

Masoud Pezeshkian, the first deputy speaker of the parliament, announced on Tuesday, January 6, that representatives have filed a complaint against Jawad Karimi Qodosi, the representative from Mashhad, to the Ethics Committee of the Parliament. Ali Motahari also stated that Mohammad Javad Zarif did not say that he made a mistake regarding the JCPOA, and that Jawad Karimi Qodosi misrepresented confidential information. Last week, Karimi Qodosi, a member of the Front of Steadfastness from Mashhad, published parts of the Iranian Foreign Minister's remarks from the December 28 session of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission and told Mehr News Agency: 'The Foreign Minister stated in the meeting that we accept we made a mistake regarding the JCPOA and I take responsibility for it.' Karimi Qodosi added that the Foreign Minister said, 'I admit that I made a mistake and trusted John Kerry. If I had followed my own strategy, I would not have faced problems now.' Following an escalation of verbal conflict over Mohammad Javad Zarif's remarks in the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, on Sunday, several conservative representatives of the parliament, after listening to the audio file of the Foreign Minister's remarks, confirmed and signed the written text of it. Reports indicate that Mohammad Ali Pourmokhtar, Seyed Javad Hosseini Kia, Hossein Ali Haji Deligani, Abbas Goudarzi, Abolfazl Abutalebi, Farhad Falahati, Mohammad Jasemi, Ahad Azadi Khah, Nasser Mousavi Largani, Mohammad Javad Abtahi, Jawad Karimi Qodosi, and Hassan Norouzi signed this text. The complaint against Karimi Qodosi has been received by the Ethics Committee. Ali Motahari stated regarding the publication of Mohammad Javad Zarif's remarks in a parliamentary commission: 'A complaint has been filed against Jawad Karimi Qodosi by a number of representatives to the Ethics Committee, and this complaint has been received.' He added, 'Even if a complaint had not been filed, the Ethics Committee would have acted on its own, like a public prosecutor entering the community.' Ali Motahari further pointed out that 'the Foreign Minister did not say in the National Security Commission that he made a mistake regarding the JCPOA,' stating, 'In that meeting, Zarif said that they, meaning the Americans, had made promises regarding the extension of the ISA law, and we trusted their verbal promises, and it would have been better if we had not trusted them.' Motahari added, 'This issue has been reflected in a way that suggests the Foreign Minister said we made a mistake regarding the entire JCPOA.' Masoud Pezeshkian mentioned to ISNA that 'Jawad Karimi Qodosi will appear before the Ethics Committee to respond to the publication of the Foreign Minister's remarks with the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission and some claims made by him in this regard.' Meanwhile, on Sunday, Bahram Qasemi, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, expressed 'deep regret' over the publication of Mohammad Javad Zarif's remarks in the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, calling this action 'unethical, illegal, and un-Islamic,' 'against national interests and security,' and 'providing tactical negotiation strategies of the country to the U.S.' Bahram Qasemi described the publication of the Foreign Minister's remarks as 'illogical and strange,' 'unethical, illegal, and un-Islamic,' and 'against the national interests and security of the country.' According to the text published by 12 parliament representatives, Zarif stated that he made a 'mistake' regarding the omission of the ISA law, which extends sanctions on Iran, in the Vienna nuclear agreement. The Iranian Foreign Minister also quoted the American side as saying that including this law in the Vienna nuclear agreement would cause the U.S. Congress to 'oppose' this agreement. According to Zarif, John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, and Ernest Moniz, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, promised during the nuclear negotiations that they would prevent the implementation of this law with 'methods' they had. Karimi Qodosi previously considered the publication of Zarif's remarks as part of his representative duties and rejected the confidentiality of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission meeting. The Iranian nuclear negotiation team has repeatedly stated that all stages of the negotiation were conducted under the direct supervision of Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic. Although Ayatollah Khamenei, who ultimately expressed his conditional approval of this agreement, has criticized it several times in the past year.