Weak Media Efforts by the Government in Defense of the JCPOA

On the first anniversary of the signing of the nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic and the 1+5 countries, opponents of the agreement and the JCPOA have intensified their attacks, challenging the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization to the extent that the organization felt compelled to respond. The public relations office of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization reacted to recent statements by Fereydoun Abbasi, the former head of the organization. In the organization's response to Abbasi's remarks, published on its news site, it stated, "You have made yourself a symbol of granting and revoking rights and have claimed that those who live day-to-day do not have the right to criticize the JCPOA. You easily make accusations and give yourself the right to be the source of revoking and granting the rights of others." According to Raja News, Fereydoun Abbasi, coinciding with the first anniversary of the signing of the nuclear agreement, accused the officials involved in the negotiations of changing their positions and stated that we must be cautious of them. In response to Abbasi, the Atomic Energy Organization also stated: "In response to these baseless claims, we return your words to you so that your conscience and, of course, the public conscience and your people can judge. Although the public conscience responded to you just a few months ago during the parliamentary elections." Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization, defended the JCPOA in an interview with the Islamic Republic News Network, stating that in negotiations, the parties cannot base their discussions on their idealistic demands. Salehi also referred to the importance of the JCPOA for Iran, the region, and the world, stating that the JCPOA has at least partially opened a closed path. Reza Alijani, an analyst of Iranian issues in Paris, commented on Abbasi's statements and the Atomic Energy Organization's response to Radio Farda, saying that this response indicates a weakness in the government's media activity. Problems that have arisen in the implementation of the JCPOA and the lifting of financial and monetary sanctions, along with the efforts of Republicans in the U.S. to pass new sanctions against the Islamic Republic, combined with the recent positions of Ayatollah Khamenei regarding the JCPOA, have further facilitated attacks on the government and supporters of the JCPOA. Khamenei stated on June 15 that the Islamic Republic will not initially violate the JCPOA, but if the threats from U.S. presidential candidates to tear up the JCPOA are realized, the Islamic Republic will burn the JCPOA.