Zarif likens domestic opponents of the JCPOA to 'the most hardline Americans'

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, expressed his grievances and 'sorrow' over the media attacks from domestic opponents of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) on Tuesday. He accused them of behaving similarly to 'the most hardline Americans,' who 'want to keep the atmosphere tense' and convey to the world that 'Iran is not a place for investment.' Zarif made these remarks during an interview with the news website 'Entekhab' on Tuesday, May 8. He stated, 'Apparently, our friends have decided that money should not enter the country, and perhaps that is why they like this and unfortunately repeat it.' Zarif continued, 'We see that the most hardline Americans beat the drum of these statements every day. Even a hardline American senator writes to us, supposedly advising us not to rely on Mr. Obama. Does this senator care about us? No. He wants to keep the atmosphere tense.' He added, 'Our friends inside are doing the same thing with these methods and media campaigns, which I believe have been formed with some political objectives for the past two or three years. They announce to the world that the situation in Iran is not suitable and that Iran is not a place for investment.' The nuclear agreement with the 1+5 group was implemented in January 2016, and since then, the Islamic Republic has dismantled a large number of its centrifuges in exchange for the lifting of a significant portion of international sanctions. Domestic opponents of the JCPOA argue that weakening Iran's nuclear program to reduce the pressure of sanctions is not the right solution and that one cannot trust the U.S. government in negotiations. Criticism of the JCPOA has also been a focal point for the electoral rivals of Hassan Rouhani in the upcoming presidential campaigns. In this context, Mostafa Mir Salim, one of the candidates, claimed on Monday that Iranian diplomats requested missile launches when they 'ran out of options' during the nuclear negotiations. The insistence of the critics of the government and the JCPOA on the failure of negotiations and being deceived by the Americans comes while Iran's nuclear negotiation team has repeatedly emphasized that all negotiation stages have been conducted under the direct supervision of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, over the past year. On the other hand, Ayatollah Khamenei, who ultimately expressed his conditional approval of this agreement, has repeatedly criticized it over the past year. Despite all these oppositions, international parties to the nuclear agreement with Iran always report that the Islamic Republic is adhering to the terms of the JCPOA, with the latest confirmation coming from Federica Mogherini, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, who affirmed this adherence on Wednesday. Zarif further explained that 'since the implementation of the JCPOA until today, perhaps 53 legislative proposals have been submitted in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate for new sanctions against Iran, but none of them have been approved.' He emphasized that these are sanctions that 'have never been approved and have had no reflection in the world and have only been promoted by some domestic friends.' He referred to the opponents of the JCPOA and noted that during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, 'it seems they do not remember that every six months a new sanction was added to Iran's sanctions. To the extent that almost every sanction that has ever been imposed against someone was being compiled against Iran, and all of them had been formed for us. They do not look at these realities.' Zarif stressed, 'Some slogans only result in driving investors away from the country, and not only do they not attract foreign investors, but we also lose our own investors.' Zarif also discussed the expensive propaganda against the JCPOA, stating that the message some groups sent abroad was that the parties sitting across from them were weak individuals who did not believe in the capabilities of the people and the revolution, which left us with no power to negotiate. The Iranian Foreign Minister expressed surprise at the uniformity and high quality of the printed banners and posters against the JCPOA across Iranian cities, questioning, 'What financial source is behind this vast scale? I doubt it was an individual effort. I wonder where this money came from and how it was spent.' In conclusion, Zarif explained that today, because of the JCPOA, 'all Iranian ships' have global insurance, 'nearly 300 foreign banks have correspondent relations with Iran, and last year we had tens of thousands of SWIFT communications.' He emphasized, 'When we started negotiations, Iran's oil was selling at 900 to 950 thousand barrels, but today it sells at 2 million and 500 thousand barrels.' The head of Iran's diplomacy insisted, 'We sell oil and receive payment for it, but at that time we sold oil and could not even receive payment for it and had to bring goods in exchange for the money. And what kind of oil? Oil that every six months, 20 percent of its sales decreased.'