Rouhani: No one has the right to shout from the people's pockets

The President of Iran emphasized that he does not believe anyone is 'worried' about what he calls the 'victory of the Iranian nation' in nuclear negotiations with the 5+1 group, stating that if someone wants to shout slogans, 'they must pay from their own pocket, not from the people's pocket.' According to ISNA news agency, Hassan Rouhani clarified on Wednesday, May 30, during his trip to Tabriz: 'I do not think anyone in the country... is worried about the victory of the nation in nuclear negotiations... and is upset about the exit from recession and the economic boom of the country.' Mr. Rouhani posed the question of whether anyone has the right to take from the people's pockets for 'harsh words and ineffective slogans,' adding: 'If someone wants to shout slogans, they must pay from their own pocket, not from the people's pocket.' The President of Iran stressed: 'We do not have the right to create extremism and slogans in society from the people's pockets, and we do not have the right to do anything that makes people worried about the future and security of the country.' Mr. Rouhani's remarks come as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, emphasized on the same day that Iran 'will not allow inspections of military sites' and 'interrogation of its nuclear scientists,' adding that 'the nation and officials of Iran will not yield to excesses and bullying in any way.' Meanwhile, several Iranian parliament members have recently announced the introduction of urgent plans to stop nuclear negotiations with the 5+1 group or to sideline the U.S. from these negotiations until the 'threats' from America cease. However, Javad Karimi Ghodoosi, one of the main architects of these plans, stated on Tuesday that parliament members have merged two nuclear plans and drafted a new one that stipulates that Western sanctions against Iran 'must be lifted all at once' and the timeframe for Iran's enrichment limitations should also be five years. This proposal from Iranian parliament members comes while, according to the U.S. fact sheet from the Lausanne nuclear agreement, Iran has agreed not to enrich uranium beyond about 3 percent for at least 15 years. Since the beginning of nuclear negotiations under Mr. Rouhani's administration, several principlists, especially from the Stability Front, have raised severe criticisms of the performance of the nuclear negotiating team in their speeches in the Iranian parliament, and similar gatherings have also been held. Despite the support of many officials of the Islamic Republic, including the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran for the Lausanne nuclear agreement, some members of the Iranian parliament, including members of the Stability Front and also Hossein Shariatmadari, the representative of the Supreme Leader in the Kayhan newspaper, have strongly criticized this agreement. Conversely, some officials of Hassan Rouhani's government have strongly attacked the critics of the Lausanne nuclear agreement. For instance, Akbar Turkan, a senior advisor to the President of Iran, on Saturday, April 22, attributed the opposition of 'many political activists' to the Lausanne agreement and their labeling of it as a 'big loss' to the jeopardizing of their 'interests' or the interests of their 'affiliates' from Western sanctions against Iran. Nonetheless, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has asked the Iranian nuclear negotiating team to invite prominent opponents of the Lausanne agreement to hear their views as well. He had previously requested on the first day of Farvardin that the government and its supporters should not insult those who, according to him, 'express concerns and worries' and added that 'humiliating opponents by officials is against wisdom and strategy.'