Zarif Believes Opponents of JCPOA Are Causing People's 'Misery'

During the presence of presidential candidates on state television, a program titled 'Political Roundtable' featuring Masoud Pezeshkian was broadcast, with Mohammad Javad Zarif and Mehdi Sanaei accompanying the candidate as political advisors. Mohammad Javad Zarif, former Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic under Hassan Rouhani, stated on Tuesday, June 29, that regarding the actions of the principlist faction towards the nuclear agreement known as the JCPOA, 'We could have revived the JCPOA multiple times so that people wouldn't suffer in misery.' Zarif claimed that the increase in Iran's oil sales was not due to the efforts of his 'friends,' but rather because Biden's policy was to loosen the sanctions; he added, 'Let Trump return and see what his friends do.' His remarks referenced previous comments by Saeed Jalili, another presidential candidate, who claimed he and his advisors provided the government with strategies for selling oil during sanctions. Zarif also directly criticized the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Saeed Jalili, saying, 'The miracle of the third millennium thought it was acting under the leadership's oversight, and along with its Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, who is now a candidate, they brought nothing but sanctions.' The 'miracle of the third millennium' was a title given to Ahmadinejad by some of his supporters, and Jalili served as the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and the main negotiator regarding Iran's nuclear file with the West during most of Ahmadinejad's presidency. Zarif made these statements during a live television program while the first debate among six presidential candidates was taking place, where the topics of sanctions and ineffective managers in the Islamic Republic and their role in economic problems and resource waste were points of contention among the candidates. Zarif referred to the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA, saying, 'Some newspapers and friends wrote that Trump saying he would exit the JCPOA was a fake war, and he wouldn't exit; then when he did, what happened?' Some principlists in the 2016 U.S. elections stated they preferred Donald Trump over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Since the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA during Trump's presidency in 2019, this significant agreement, aimed at limiting the scope of Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions against the country, has collapsed. On Tuesday, Rafael Grossi, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, stated that the JCPOA 'exists only on paper' and that neither side is adhering to it. Zarif claimed that Joe Biden was seeking to return to the JCPOA and emphasized that the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a prominent figure in Iran's missile program, by Israel and the law 'Strategic Action to Lift Sanctions' passed by the 11th Parliament prevented Rouhani's government from returning to the JCPOA. The former foreign minister further stated, 'Do not forget that as much as weapons are important, people are also important.' At the beginning of his remarks, he expressed support for Hamas and the group's attack on Israel on October 7, stating that Israel has not been able to defeat the 'resistance movement' for eight months. Officials and supporters of the Islamic Republic have referred to Iran's proxy groups in the Middle East as the 'resistance movement.' Zarif's statements received a wave of support from reformist figures and media supporting Masoud Pezeshkian on social media. On the other hand, Masoud Pezeshkian also stated in the same roundtable that the guiding principle of his government's foreign policy would be 'the interests of the people' and added, 'I want to move from a minimal life and barely surviving to a good life.' This presidential candidate also emphasized that for him, negotiation does not mean 'humiliation' and that he would not provide 'empty slogans that empty people's pockets' in foreign policy. He reiterated his criticism of circumventing sanctions, stating, 'Our oil money should not go into the pockets of smugglers. One can live with sanctions, but not progress. We were supposed to circumvent the sanctions, but corridors and others are circumventing Iran.' Meanwhile, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, another candidate in this election, also criticized in one of his televised speeches that 30% of oil money is wasted during sales. Previously, international media reported on Iran's significant discounts to China for selling its oil. Data analysis from Radio Farda indicates that the Islamic Republic, aiming to encourage customers to buy its sanctioned oil, is providing about $15 million in daily discounts to Chinese refineries.