Rouhani to Opponents of Nuclear Agreement: Lifting Sanctions Will Not Hurt Your Business

The President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, called the approval of the general plan for implementing the nuclear agreement (JCPOA) in the parliament a "historic" move that should promote national unity. He addressed the opponents of the agreement, stating, "They should not be upset; their business will not suffer." On Tuesday, October 10, one day after the approval of the general plan, during his visit to Sari in Mazandaran province, Rouhani introduced the Islamic Republic as a country that has taken a "democratic path" in its constitution, respecting "everything that the majority of the people" say while also safeguarding minority rights. He added that criticism of the JCPOA is acceptable, "but the opinion of the majority is the criterion." The one-urgency plan known as "The Government's Proportional and Reciprocal Action in Implementing the JCPOA" was approved on Sunday with 139 votes in favor and 100 against out of 253 representatives present in the session. The details are set to be discussed on Tuesday and must be approved by the Guardian Council after that. Opponents of the plan accused Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Parliament, of preparing this plan and replacing it with the report from the special commission reviewing the JCPOA, launching severe attacks against him. In response, Larijani denied the accusation, stating that the leadership was "informed" of the plan's implementation and that Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, had also approved it. On Sunday, Ali Akbar Salehi and Mohammad Javad Zarif, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization and the Foreign Minister of Iran, respectively, were present in the parliament to defend the plan. Salehi mentioned that he had received death threats from some representatives. According to Iranian news agencies, Rouhollah Hosseinian, a representative from the Front of Steadfastness and an opponent of the nuclear agreement, was the one who issued the threat. IRNA reported on Tuesday that Hosseinian was hospitalized due to a heart condition following the tensions in the parliament on Sunday. In his remarks on Tuesday, Rouhani responded to opponents who accuse his government of seeking negotiations with the West for their own interests, stating that they negotiated for national interests and economic benefits, and he could not allow people to pay 15 to 20 percent more for every item entering the country due to sanctions, asserting that "no one has the right to speak at the expense of the people." According to IRNA, Rouhani once again praised the Iranian negotiating team, calling the agreement a "proud victory" that allowed Iran to exit Chapter VII of the UN Charter and annul Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran "without war and with reasoning." Rouhani has previously referred to the opponents of the nuclear agreement as those concerned about their own interests and the "decline of their businesses." On Tuesday, he stated that "we are now in a post-sanctions situation," calling for unity in the country and asserting that the JCPOA should be a "launchpad for economic leap" and that in the coming months, with the lifting of sanctions, there will be a "sustainable economic boom" in the country. The President promised that his government would present a package by the end of the week that would create "significant momentum in the economy in the second half of the year." In his remarks, he also once again accused, without naming, Saudi Arabia of being behind the fall in global oil prices, but noted that it is now also suffering the consequences. He added that while inflation in Iran has decreased despite economic problems, "this year, inflation in one of the oil-rich countries was three times that of previous years."