Psychological Warfare in Iran Regarding Compliance with the JCPOA by the U.S.

About two weeks after the last missile test in the Islamic Republic and the reaction of Western countries to these tests, the discussion about Western behavior towards Iran remains heated. In the latest statement regarding the missile policy of the Islamic Republic, Ali Larijani emphasized the necessity of strengthening Iran's missile capabilities and described the reaction of Western countries as 'pretext-seeking.' On Saturday evening, Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister and senior member of Iran's negotiating team with the 1+5 countries, emphasized in a special news program on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting's Channel 2 that Iran's missile policy is non-negotiable, stating that opposition to Iran's missile policy is not new and did not arise after the JCPOA. Mr. Araghchi, referring to those who speak of new sanctions, said that adding more names to the sanctions list by the U.S. does not mean new sanctions, but since Mr. Khamenei wants it, we say it is sanctions. Mehdi Mahdavi Azad, a journalist and analyst on Iranian issues in Germany, told Radio Farda that opponents of the government's conciliatory policy towards the West, backed by Ayatollah Khamenei, have launched a psychological war against the government by claiming that the U.S. does not comply with the JCPOA. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced in the second half of Esfand last year that it conducted a series of ballistic missile tests, stating that it tested two missiles with a range of 2000 kilometers during these exercises. In response to these tests, the U.S. government called on the United Nations Security Council to condemn this action. The Security Council held a closed-door meeting on Esfand 24, and according to the French news agency, the Russian representative at the UN stated after the meeting that Security Council members agreed that Iran's missile tests do not violate the Security Council resolution.