Shariatmadari Challenges Rouhani: Name One of the 100 Lifted Sanctions

Hosseini Shariatmadari, representative of the Supreme Leader at the Kayhan Institute, has asked Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, to "name one of the 100 sanctions that have been lifted." Mr. Shariatmadari criticized Rouhani's speech at the opening of the Tehran Press Exhibition in two separate statements. The editor-in-chief of Kayhan newspaper stated on the evening of Saturday, November 6, during the program "Negah Yek" on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting that "today one of the gentlemen said that 100 sanctions have been lifted and only three remain, and some do not see these 100 and only see the other three, and he should be asked to name one of these 100 cases." Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, said on Saturday, November 6, in a speech: "We have lifted the sanctions, but some are upset and say why the sanctions have been lifted? For example, if 100 sanctions have been lifted and a few remain, they do not look at those 100 and only see those few." The leader of the Islamic Republic, individuals close to him, and even senior officials of Rouhani's government have recently accused the United States of not fulfilling its promises in the nuclear agreement with Iran. In response, the U.S. claims that it has acted even beyond its commitments in the nuclear agreement. Shariatmadari, in the "Negah Yek" television program, raised the question of which sanctions have been lifted, adding: "The banking sanctions are still in place, and according to Mr. Seif, major banks do not establish relations with us and force us to accept FATF, which is a step backward." In the editorial of the November 6 issue of Kayhan newspaper, he also wrote that "Mr. Salehi, Zarif, Araqchi, etc., emphasize that the sanctions have only been lifted on paper, and Mr. Seif, the esteemed head of the Central Bank, says the achievements of the JCPOA have been almost nothing. How can this obvious contradiction between the statements of the President and senior officials involved in the matter be reconciled?" The editor-in-chief of Kayhan also rejected the Iranian President's remarks about freedom of expression, adding: "If they believe so much in freedom of expression and the press, why have they not tolerated the slightest criticism from their critics and their own government and have attacked them with words that have been unexpected and are unexpected?" Shariatmadari also dismissed Rouhani's claims about the economic successes of his government. In the "Negah Yek" program, Mohammad Hossein Rahimian, the head of the Jamkaran Mosque, also stated that "recent experiences have proven that one cannot trust America, and the JCPOA issue has created the opportunity to once again test Imam's views on America." Abdullah Ghanji, the editor-in-chief of the Javan newspaper, also reacted to Rouhani's remarks at the opening of the Press Exhibition on his Telegram channel, writing: "The President stated that the information rent is a plague for the country. The essence of this issue is correct, but what he distorted is that the economic rents that usually those in power have access to are hidden, and the information rent was referred to the field of information dissemination." Ghanji added: "It is this information rent that has made some of Rouhani's ministers billionaires; otherwise, how does an employee become a billionaire? Where does the information regarding the loans, the comparative advantages of exports and imports come from, and who obtains it? In this government, who received the information rent from the free port of Jask, and who were the buyers of Jask lands before its public announcement?" In recent months, several critics of Rouhani's administration have accused some of his officials of financial corruption. This accusation has been denied by the government. Sadegh Zibakalam, a university professor, has also criticized Rouhani's remarks from a different angle than the conservatives. Zibakalam wrote in the Arman newspaper: "The President also mentioned in his remarks that the press and media have the mission of expanding and developing transparency in society, but he did not mention what factors cause disruption in the work of the press and prevent the media and cyberspace from fulfilling their commitments and duties regarding creating transparency in society." The university professor added: "The press and media trials should be held with the presence of a jury. Have there been juries for newspapers and other media that have been tried and somewhat halted in the past one to three years, and after hearing the statements and listening to the accusations against that media and the newspaper's defense, did the jury retreat and reach a conclusion?" Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, criticized what he called the existing restrictions against the media in Iran on Saturday, stating that mouths should not be silenced with false pretexts. Rouhani also said that "security is not maintained only with a gun" and considered "information rent" to be a "great plague in the country." The President of Iran said: "The case is still in the investigator's hands; the judge and prosecutor do not even know, this man knows, I do not know if they are jinn? How do they know and how do they communicate?" It seems that his reference was to the activities of those conservative newspapers and media that have published some documents related to ongoing cases in the judiciary over the past three years.