Reactions of Three Reformist Figures to the Letter from 30 Political Activists to Trump

Three reformist figures described the letter from 30 Iranian political activists to Donald Trump, the elected President of the United States, as "betrayal" and "in line with aiding the domestic alarmist current." Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari, Minister of Interior in Mohammad Khatami's government, stated in an interview with the Shargh newspaper on Tuesday, January 6, that this letter is "in line with aiding the domestic alarmist current." He added, "Those who are abroad seeking to create problems for the country, including these 30 individuals, aim to portray the JCPOA as ineffective, similar to what the alarmists do inside the country." Abdullah Ramazanzadeh, spokesperson for Khatami's government, emphasized that "the actions of these 30 individuals can only be described as betrayal." He added, "The subversive and anti-regime positions of this group, which includes these 30 individuals, are clear, and the line separating reformists from this group does not need to be proven." Azar Mansouri, a member of the Central Council of the Union of the Nation Party, also reacted to the letter by saying, "We should feel sorry for those who consider themselves Iranian but have written such a letter; these individuals pursue nothing but enmity against the country, the people, and national interests." A group of Iranian political and civil activists wrote a letter to Donald Trump, requesting that the new U.S. government "expand existing sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the financial empire of Ayatollah Khamenei." The sending of this letter to Trump has elicited various reactions on social media, with some users stating that past sanctions have put more pressure on the Iranian people than on the officials of the Islamic Republic. Some social media users have also interpreted this action as "encouraging war" against Iran, while some of the letter's authors have stated that the letter was written to prevent war. Meanwhile, Amir Hossein Etemadi, one of the signatories of this letter, stated in an interview with Radio Farda in response to these protests that the authors of this letter "do not seek to sever Iran's ties with the world but rather want to cut the hands of the IRGC and the empire of Ayatollah Khamenei from Iran's economy." In response to objections that Western sanctions primarily target the Iranian people, he insisted that the Supreme Leader's insistence on lifting sanctions indicates that Western sanctions "first and foremost put pressure on the leadership of the Iranian government, even if they also put pressure on the people." According to Mr. Etemadi, the sanctions proposed in this letter are "very targeted and can help revive the private sector in Iran." Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, emphasized in the fall of 2013 that banking problems have hindered the export of medicine and medical equipment to Iran and quoted the Hemophilia Association as reporting that nearly 7,000 hemophiliacs are at risk of drug shortages. Ahmed Shaheed even considered gasoline sanctions as "causing increased pollution in Iran." Meanwhile, some policies of Ahmadinejad's government in prioritizing imported goods have exacerbated this shortage of medicine in Iran, which Ahmadinejad's Minister of Health, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, protested. Mr. Etemadi emphasized that if companies affiliated with the IRGC and the Executive Headquarters of Imam's Order are sanctioned, the Iranian government will be forced to replace them with other companies for foreign transactions. He stated that any movement to change the Islamic Republic's government must be carried out by the people, and the authors of this letter do not seek for the U.S. government to intervene "directly" in changing the Islamic Republic's government. The letter criticizes the policies of Barack Obama's administration towards Iran, stating: "In 2009, millions of Iranians demanding democracy took to the streets of Tehran and called for President Obama's support for their protests. In a disappointing response, President Obama's administration engaged in secret correspondence with Ayatollah Khamenei while demonstrators were being shot in the streets of Tehran, in an unbelievable shift of 180 degrees from all fundamental values of the United States." Meanwhile, Mr. Etemadi referred to this part of the letter, saying: "Our request from Mr. Trump is to take a different position in this situation and for the media at the disposal of the U.S. government to give this space to democratic forces to speak with the Iranian people. This space has been very limited for democratic forces in recent years and has constantly been at the disposal of forces connected to parts of the Islamic Republic." Majid Mohammadi, a sociologist, Ahmad Batebi, a human rights activist and former political prisoner, and Arash Sobhani, a musician and human rights activist, are among the signatories of this letter.