Statement from the National Security Commission of Parliament Supporting Zarif's Remarks

In the ongoing controversy over the publication of Mohammad Javad Zarif's remarks in the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Parliament, by a representative of the Front of Steadfastness, this commission issued a statement on Tuesday condemning this action and deeming it a "grave sin." In the commission's statement, the recent action of this representative of the Front of Steadfastness is described as "norm-breaking and unreasonable sidelining." On Sunday, January 5, Jawad Karimi Quddusi, a representative from Mashhad, published Mohammad Javad Zarif's remarks. Prior to this, this member of the National Security Commission had claimed that the Iranian Foreign Minister had "confessed" to making a mistake regarding the JCPOA and stated that he should not have "trusted" John Kerry. However, according to the text published by Karimi Quddusi, Mohammad Javad Zarif says that initially, the ISA (Iran Sanctions Act) was supposed to be included in the JCPOA text, but the Americans said that mentioning this law in the JCPOA text would involve Congress and would require Congress's vote on the JCPOA. According to Zarif's statements, John Kerry verbally accepted that the extension of the Iran sanctions law violates the JCPOA, but the American team said that it could not be included in the text, as it would involve Congress. Zarif explains that the U.S. government did not anticipate that Donald Trump could win and therefore was confident it could prevent the implementation of sanctions. The Iranian Foreign Minister further states that based on Kerry's position, he, as an official Iranian representative, should not have made a public statement about the violation of the JCPOA before the U.S. government could prevent the approval of sanctions in Congress and should have kept Congress's actions separate from the JCPOA. Zarif also mentions: "In a letter I wrote in September to Ms. Mogherini, I stated that this should not happen; I also wrote to the United Nations that the laws expire and their extension violates the JCPOA. This is not in the JCPOA text. This is our interpretation." In other words, Zarif implicitly states that according to the JCPOA text, the extension of sanctions is not a violation of the JCPOA, but an extraneous agreement was made regarding it. Mohammad Javad Zarif says: "Based on the agreement we made with Mr. Kerry, and I am now telling you, I won't say it publicly, but I will tell you, I made a mistake based on an agreement we made; we set aside our strategy and based on that agreement, we announced it, which became the position of the Islamic Republic." After the publication of Zarif's remarks by Karimi Quddusi, the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement accusing this representative of the Front of Steadfastness of disclosing confidential discussions and negotiation tactics of the negotiating team. The National Security Commission also visited Mohammad Javad Zarif to address the ensuing controversies. The National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, in its statement, distanced itself from the actions of Jawad Karimi Quddusi, stating: "The bitter incident that occurred last week after the joint meeting of the esteemed Foreign Minister and the deputies of this ministry and members of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission was norm-breaking and unreasonable sidelining, which the vast majority of commission members object to." This commission also stated that Zarif's remarks were "neither a mistake in the JCPOA nor a mistake in the strategic policies of the system, but merely a reference to a mistake in announcing a position."