Rouhani's Television Interview Postponed to Sunday Afternoon

Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, who was scheduled to have a live television interview on Saturday evening following the release of a statement by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirming Iran's compliance with its commitments and announcing the 'Implementation Day', has postponed the interview to Sunday afternoon. According to domestic news agencies, it was expected that Mr. Rouhani would appear in a live television interview if 'Implementation Day' was announced, but it was announced late Saturday that the interview would be postponed to Sunday afternoon. In this regard, Tasnim reported that the Iranian presidency had invited photographers and cameramen from news agencies and television networks to the conference hall on Saturday morning, and the President intended to have a live television interview with the people immediately after the reading of the joint statement on the implementation of the JCPOA in Vienna. However, late Saturday night, Parviz Ismaili, the Deputy for Information at the President's Office, announced that the interview had been postponed to Sunday afternoon. According to Tasnim, in addition to Hassan Rouhani, a large number of government officials, including Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, Minister of Industry, Ali Tayebnia, Minister of Economy, Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Minister of Health, Ali Asghar Fani, Minister of Education, Shahindokht Molaverdi, Deputy for Women and Family Affairs, Mohammad Nahavandian, Head of the President's Office, Hossein Fereidoun, the President's brother and special assistant, Majid Takht Ravanchi, Deputy Foreign Minister, and Mohammad Ali Najafi and Hesamoddin Ashna, advisors to Hassan Rouhani, were present in the conference hall on Saturday evening. Mohammad Hassan Abutalebi-Fard, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Kazem Jalali, Head of the Parliament's Research Center, Mohammad Reza Tabesh, a reformist member of Parliament, Mahmoud Doa'i, the editor-in-chief of the Information newspaper, and Elias Hazrati, the editor-in-chief of the Etemad newspaper, were also among those who were supposed to accompany Hassan Rouhani in this live interview. Meanwhile, the state news agency IRNA reported in the last minutes of Saturday that, according to the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, 'diplomatic consultations are still ongoing, and at any moment, there is a possibility that the joint statement on the implementation of the JCPOA will be read by Dr. Zarif and Ms. Mogherini.' Earlier, American sources had told Reuters that there were still 'a few technical issues remaining', and the timing for announcing 'Implementation Day' was still under review. Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian Foreign Minister, also tweeted on Saturday evening, referring to the imminent announcement of 'Implementation Day', emphasizing that 'diplomacy requires patience, but we all know it will prevail over other options.' According to the Vienna nuclear agreement, 'Implementation Day' is when the IAEA confirms Iran's completion of its nuclear commitments, after which the U.S., the European Union, and the United Nations will lift nuclear sanctions on Iran.