Success of the Nuclear Team in Navigating the Parliamentary Challenge

The headline "Appreciation from the IRGC, Welcome from Parliament" in the Wednesday edition of Etemad newspaper reflects the positive reaction of the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and members of Parliament to the Lausanne nuclear agreement. The newspaper notes that "the fifth day after the issuance of the Swiss statement has become more hopeful than ever for the Iranian negotiating team." On Tuesday, April 18, "at the same time that parliament members were announcing their positive assessment of the negotiations, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Commander of the IRGC, expressed his appreciation for the Iranian nuclear negotiating team and spoke of their success in defending the rights of the Iranian people". In addition to Etemad, newspapers such as Javan, Mardomsalari, Qanoon, and Ebtekar featured headlines related to Jafari's reactions to the Lausanne agreement. Shargh newspaper reported under the headline "Success of the Nuclear Team in Navigating the Parliamentary Challenge" that "Mohammad Javad Zarif and Ali Akbar Salehi convinced Parliament with explanations about the Lausanne agreement during a closed session." Qanoon newspaper reported on the "increasing age of Iranian politicians" and noted the rising average age in Parliament, the government, the Expediency Discernment Council, the Guardian Council, and the Assembly of Experts, stating that "the pillars of the system have aged." Citizen newspaper reported that the International Day for "Awareness of the Dangers and Fight Against Mines," which coincided with April 15 this year, passed in Iran "silently." Arman newspaper announced the return of Mohsen Rezaei to the IRGC, stating that "the former IRGC commander has returned home and no longer seeks political ambitions as a presidential candidate and does not even want to manage a front named Resistance." Shargh dedicated its front page to Abdollah Nouri, the Interior Minister in Mohammad Khatami's first government, describing "the formation of a global think tank against fundamentalism" as a solution proposed by this cleric close to reformists for "extremism." Jahane Sanat newspaper, on its front page, while referring to "the insistence of the Environmental Protection Organization on expanding nature tourism," wrote: "Protected areas are not being protected." This newspaper stated: "While the Environmental Protection Organization is fully supporting natural tourism, irreparable damages to the country's environment are being inflicted daily by human factors despite the existence of a National Nature Tourism Committee responsible for educating tourism culture in nature." The positive reactions of two governmental bodies to the nuclear negotiations; "Appreciation from the IRGC, Welcome from Parliament". Etemad emphasizes that on Tuesday, "two important institutions of the country had positive reactions to the nuclear negotiations," stating: "Opposing voices have become more scattered than before. Now, positive messages regarding the outcome of the Swiss negotiations have filled the political atmosphere in Iran." Etemad notes that "the fifth day after the issuance of the Swiss statement has become more hopeful than ever for the Iranian negotiating team," stating that on Tuesday, April 18, "at the same time that parliament members were announcing their positive assessment of the negotiations, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Commander of the IRGC, expressed his appreciation for the Iranian nuclear negotiating team and spoke of their success in defending the rights of the Iranian people." According to this newspaper, Jafari stated regarding "some ambiguities raised about the recent nuclear statement": "The resistance of the Iranian people against the United States has rendered the United States' strong options to impose its political will on the Islamic Republic of Iran ineffective," and while "the U.S., which sought to change Iran's political behavior, itself had to change its political behavior and, contrary to its past stance, was forced to abandon all options on the table and replace them with a diplomatic path to resolve the nuclear issue." Etemad emphasizes that "these developments and positions can now strengthen the upper hand of the Iranians in continuing the nuclear negotiations," stating: "Previously, the unified support of Friday prayer leaders across the country for the outcome of the Swiss negotiations had drawn the attention of political observers. With three months remaining until the deadline for negotiations, this situation is the right position that the negotiating team needs to confront the 1+5 countries to ultimately sign an agreement whose frameworks and red lines have long been defined." Javan newspaper, close to the IRGC, also dedicated its front page to another part of Jafari's remarks about the Lausanne agreement, quoting him as saying: "The trust of the government and the people will not be undermined by American insinuations." According to this newspaper, Jafari also stated: "The revolutionary children of Islamic Iran have been able to adequately defend the rights of the Iranian people in their diplomatic battle so far, and the Iranian people and the IRGC appreciate the sincere efforts and political struggles of these individuals and their steadfastness on the defined red lines." Javan also quoted the IRGC commander as saying: "The intelligent and courageous diplomatic apparatus of the country is expected to utilize all its powerful capacities and the entire system for the dignity of the Islamic Revolution and the country and also for the simultaneous lifting of sanctions in the decisive opportunity ahead." According to this newspaper, Jafari stated: "The great Iranian nation, based on the luminous slogan 'Government and Nation, Unity and Accord,' will stand united behind their nuclear diplomatic front and will not allow misleading insinuations from the enemy, especially the U.S., regarding the recent negotiations to undermine the trust between the government and the people through an unrealistic translation of the joint statement." Javan simultaneously reported that Hamid Reza Moghadamfar, the media advisor to the Commander of the IRGC, stated on Tuesday that "neither excitement nor mere opposition to the Lausanne statement can be an appropriate position," emphasizing "trust in the statements of the Iranian team and some achievements of Lausanne," but noted that "some concerns must be addressed." The success of the nuclear team in navigating the parliamentary challenge. Shargh reported under the headline "Success of the Nuclear Team in Navigating the Parliamentary Challenge" that "Mohammad Javad Zarif and Ali Akbar Salehi convinced Parliament with explanations about the Lausanne agreement during a closed session." Mehdi Ghadimi, the reporter for Shargh, noted that "the closed doors of the Parliament's public session opened to journalists at 10 a.m. on Tuesday," stating: "The closed doors behind which representatives had been listening to the remarks of Ali Akbar Salehi and Mohammad Javad Zarif about the details of the Lausanne negotiations and their results since the beginning of the Parliament's work." After the doors of the Parliament opened for journalists to see what remained, "there was a grand farewell for Zarif among a crowd of representatives who accompanied him to the exit, and Mehdi Kouchakzadeh was also seen trying to convey his last words to Zarif among the crowd." According to Shargh, "After Zarif's exit, a circle of representatives formed around Salehi; a circle centered on three representatives from Isfahan province, namely Fooladgar, Moqaddami, and Sarami, who continued to discuss with the head of the Atomic Energy Organization with intensity and excitement, and sometimes Kouchakzadeh also entered this discussion." Some representatives who heard this discussion, which resembled a debate, told Shargh: "The discussion was about the Natanz site," but refrained from "further explanation." This newspaper, citing statements from representatives present in the closed session on Tuesday, wrote that in this session, "Ali Akbar Salehi, in comprehensive remarks, addressed all existing technical and specialized ambiguities, and when it was Zarif's turn to speak, the atmosphere of the Parliament had reached a level of persuasion and cooperation with the negotiating team that several objections and loud voices from Mehdi Kouchakzadeh and Hamid Rasayi and criticisms from Hosseinian went nowhere, and the representatives preferred to invite their colleagues to silence and listen to Zarif's explanations." Shargh also quoted Hamid Rasayi as saying that in the closed session on Tuesday, "I did not object. I only asked why you celebrated a victory for a statement that you say is not definitive and is in the form of a rough draft." According to this newspaper, Hamid Rasayi also told reporters: "The important thing is that Mr. Zarif has been tasked with presenting our Foreign Ministry's fact sheet." Shargh noted that "after saying this, Hamid Rasayi smiled, showed his hand in a fist, and said: This means a choke point," and this representative of the ninth Parliament, in response to the newspaper's question about who had tasked Zarif, limited himself to two words and quickly entered the Parliament: The Leader, last night." This newspaper wrote that the most interesting point among the statements of Parliament representatives after the closed session with Mohammad Javad Zarif was "the expression of hope from Kouchakzadeh," a critic of the nuclear negotiations, who told reporters: "The head of the Atomic Energy Organization and the Foreign Minister provided encouraging explanations regarding the research and development of nuclear technology in the country that were agreed upon in the negotiations," and also "the explanations that the Foreign Minister provided in the closed session regarding the lifting of sanctions and the manner of monitoring by the Agency, etc., were acceptable to us; however, these explanations must certainly be included in the framework of the fact sheet of Iran that will be published in the coming days." Shargh noted that in recent days, some prominent figures in Parliament had emphasized the necessity of approving the Additional Protocol in Parliament, stating that on Tuesday, after the closed session, Behrouz Namati, the spokesman for the Parliament's presiding board, explicitly announced to reporters: "The implementation of the Additional Protocol will be carried out by the government, and if it needs to be approved by Parliament, it will be placed on the agenda, and I think the government currently has the authority to voluntarily implement the Protocol." "Aging of the System's Pillars"; The average age of government officials has increased to 51 to 87 years. Qanoon newspaper reported on the "increasing age of Iranian politicians" and noted the rising average age in Parliament, the government, the Expediency Discernment Council, the Guardian Council, and the Assembly of Experts, emphasizing that "the pillars of the system have aged." According to this newspaper, while the first term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly began on June 7, 1980, with "the average age of representatives in the first term being 39.8 years and five of these representatives being 25 years old," and "the highest frequency was related to the age of 32," gradually the average age in each term of Parliament has increased compared to the previous Parliament, so that "in the fourth Parliament, most representatives were in the age range of 36 to 40 years. Representatives who were 39 years old at the beginning of this term occupied the most seats in Parliament, and the overall average age of representatives in this term was 42.2 years." Vida Rabani, the reporter for Qanoon, noted that "this age growth continued in subsequent terms, with the average age in the fifth Parliament being 43.7 years, in the sixth Parliament 44.7 years, in the seventh Parliament 47 years, and in the eighth Parliament 48.8 years," and finally, the average age of representatives "in the ninth Parliament has also significantly increased to 51.6 years." According to this newspaper, "the government has also faced an increase in the age of its cabinet since the beginning of the revolution. The youngest minister in Iranian history is Mohammad Javad Tondgouyan, who became Minister of Oil at the age of 30 in 1980 in Mohammad Ali Rajai's government," and the average age of Rajai's cabinet was "approximately 38 years, but the cabinets of governments have also gradually faced an increase in age over time. The average age of ministers in the Reconstruction government rose above 40, and in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, it reached 50 years," and "this figure in the eleventh government has also significantly increased to 60 years." Qanoon emphasized that "the increase in age is not limited to the government and Parliament," stating: "Other pillars of the system have also faced an increase in age." This newspaper noted that "in many countries where democracy is institutionalized, young people have a significant presence in political arenas, and democratic and meritocratic mechanisms help young people participate in power," stating: "In Iran, at the beginning of the revolution, young people played a significant role in the political and managerial arenas of the country, but over time, as the revolutionary courage that trusted young people faded, a period of stability and institutionalization of the revolution has arrived, and the role of young people in the political arena has diminished," and now "with the passage of each four-year term of government and Parliament, their average age also faces an increase." Qanoon, while comparing the minimum age for entering the Islamic Consultative Assembly with the parliaments of countries such as France, the United States, Germany, and Belgium, referred to the reduction of the minimum age for parliamentary representation in Turkey from 30 years to 25 years last year, and wrote that in Iran, however, over the past years, "the minimum age for parliamentary representation has increased from 25 years to 30 years." This newspaper described the increase in average age in various pillars of the Islamic Republic as "a warning bell for the increase in the age of individuals in various pillars of the system," stating that this issue "could challenge the future of macro management in Iran." The International Day for "Awareness of the Dangers and Fight Against Mines" passed in silence in Iran. Citizen newspaper reported that regarding the International Day for "Awareness of the Dangers and Fight Against Mines," which coincided with April 15 this year, it passed in Iran "silently." This newspaper wrote that the United Nations on April 4, the fifteenth of Farvardin, recognized this day, but in Iran, it was not acknowledged.