Nategh Nouri Defends Government Against Critics of the JCPOA

Amid the tensions arising between officials of the Islamic Republic due to the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA, on Friday, May 28, another official criticized some domestic critics for settling scores with the government "under the pretext" of the JCPOA. On the same day, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad also defended the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic against criticisms related to the JCPOA. According to the IRNA news agency, Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri, a member of the Expediency Council, stated on Friday: "Some internal critics, either out of negligence or sometimes with malice, have used the issue of the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA as an excuse to settle scores with the government." He added during a meeting with some journalists: "Those who engage in destructive criticisms with the intent of political score-settling do not realize that this method leads to the defeat of the internal front and paves the way for the success of the enemy's plans." Nategh Nouri's defense of the government regarding the JCPOA comes five days after the Assembly of Experts issued a statement indicating that the Supreme Leader "only" accepted the JCPOA due to the government's insistence, and Hassan Rouhani should apologize for "not adhering to the red lines set by Ayatollah Khamenei." Following the increase in criticisms of this statement and the ignorance of at least two members of this assembly regarding the issuance of such a statement, the Secretariat of the Assembly of Experts changed its title to "Statement of the Chairman of the Assembly of Experts." The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known as the JCPOA, is an agreement under which the Islamic Republic was supposed to alleviate Western concerns about its nuclear program and experience a significant reduction in global sanctions against it. However, the opposition of Donald Trump, the current President of the United States, led to the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA. Following the U.S. exit from the JCPOA, widespread criticism from conservatives targeted Hassan Rouhani's government, and in the latest action, one hundred members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly issued a warning to the President. This written warning stated: "Strong and sufficient guarantees were necessary to prevent violations by the opposing parties, including a written declaration from the President of the United States and the European Union regarding the lifting of sanctions." This volume of criticism prompted a reaction from Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the government spokesman, who stated on Tuesday, May 25, during his weekly press conference after emphasizing that the JCPOA was "the right move": "We no longer have time to confront enemies on one side and keep an eye on our friends so they do not stab us in the back." Criticism from Alim al-Huda regarding those who "question the leadership" On Friday, May 28, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad also addressed the JCPOA, stating that it was "approved by the parliament through a media frenzy." According to the news site "Entekhab," Ahmad Alim al-Huda, in his Friday prayer sermon in Mashhad, referred to Ayatollah Khamenei's view on the nuclear negotiation parties, saying: "From the very beginning, the Supreme Leader said he does not trust them and will only see harm and loss, but they did not stop and said they would not act." Alim al-Huda added: "After the agreement was made, the Supreme Leader stated both privately and in speeches that this contract is only credible if the President signs it and all sanctions are lifted." The Friday prayer leader of Mashhad continued: "The President of the United States did not sign it, and this contract came to the parliament and was examined, and it was stated that this is not correct and they said the contract is harmful, but it was passed by a media frenzy and today it has failed and has caused damage, and the centrifuges have been disabled and the 20% technology has been set aside, and in the end, it was nothing." He further stated that the Supreme Leader "left the path open, but today some impure elements say that if someone is to be questioned, it is the Supreme Leader himself, and this is the ignorance that has entered our country, and some of our political currents have been engulfed by this ignorance." The Friday prayer leader of Mashhad did not name those who are questioning Ali Khamenei and did not make specific references to "impure elements." Previously, in recent days, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former President of Iran, announced that he opposed the direct negotiations that led to the JCPOA between Iran and the U.S., which took place in the last years of his presidency with the Supreme Leader's permission in Oman. Ahmadinejad's remarks about opposing the Oman negotiations come at a time when some former officials of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, including Hossein Mousavian, a former nuclear negotiator, have spoken of Ahmadinejad's repeated attempts to negotiate directly with the U.S.