Tehran's Interim Friday Prayer Leader Expresses Satisfaction with Zarif's 'Official Apology' for Being 'Deceived' by the U.S.

The interim Friday prayer leader of Tehran, based on statements attributed to Mohammad Javad Zarif in parliament, referred to the Islamic Republic's foreign minister as 'deceived' and 'attached' to the U.S., expressing hope that no Iranian officials remain 'attached' to the U.S. He also interpreted the remarks attributed to Mr. Zarif as 'his official apology for being deceived by the U.S. Secretary of State.' According to Fars News Agency, Mohammad Ali Mohammadi Kermani stated in his Friday sermon on December 30: 'Thank God some officials have officially apologized and said we were deceived by the U.S. Secretary of State.' He added: 'We hope there is no official who is still attached to the U.S. or has any hopes.' These remarks come despite the fact that the statements attributed to the foreign minister do not include an apology; instead, he acknowledged that trusting the U.S. Secretary of State's promises and publicly expressing a position on the 'ISA' (Iran Sanctions Act) was a mistake. According to the text published by Javad Karimi Qodousi, a representative from Mashhad, Mohammad Javad Zarif stated that John Kerry verbally accepted that the extension of the Iran sanctions law violates the JCPOA, but the U.S. team said this point could not be included in the JCPOA text, as it would involve the U.S. Congress. Zarif explained his phone calls with John Kerry and meetings between officials of the two countries, stating that the U.S. government did not expect Donald Trump to win the election and was therefore confident it could prevent the implementation of sanctions. Zarif further indicated that, as an Iranian official, he should not have publicly positioned himself regarding the violation of the JCPOA before the U.S. government could prevent the approval of sanctions in Congress, and he should have kept congressional actions separate from the JCPOA. The Iranian Foreign Ministry has yet to comment on the statements of the Tehran Friday prayer leader, but previously, it had described the publication of Zarif's remarks as a disclosure of confidential discussions and negotiation tactics of the Iranian nuclear negotiation team. The publication of the Iranian Foreign Minister's statements in the past two weeks has received significant attention, and several representatives have filed complaints against Javad Karimi Qodousi with the Supervisory Board on the Conduct of Representatives. Meanwhile, according to Abolfazl Hassan Beigi, the second deputy chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, Mr. Karimi Qodousi has also filed a complaint against his accusers. On Tuesday, a statement was released by the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission that described the disclosure of the Foreign Minister's statements by Mr. Karimi Qodousi as an 'unforgivable sin' and 'unreasonable norm-breaking and side-lining.' However, a day later, Aladdin Boroujerdi, the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, announced that although this statement was approved by the majority of the commission's members, it is not 'official' as the commission did not convene a meeting on it. The insistence of critics of the government and the JCPOA on the failure of negotiations and being deceived by the U.S. comes at a time when the Iranian nuclear negotiation team has repeatedly emphasized over the past year that all negotiation stages were conducted under the direct supervision of Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, a claim that does not seem unfounded given the power structure in the Islamic Republic. On the other hand, Ayatollah Khamenei, who ultimately expressed his conditional approval of this agreement, has criticized it several times over the past year.