Rouhani Sworn in for Second Term — But will US Sanctions Ruin the Celebrations?

The Supreme Leader has sworn in Hassan Rouhani for his second term as president of the Islamic Republic of Iran just one day after the United States imposed new sanctions on the Islamic Republic. 

In the first of two presidential ceremonies, Ayatollah Khamenei gave his official endorsement for Rouhani on August 3.  

The second ceremony, Rouhani’s inauguration, will take place on Saturday, August 5. In that ceremony, a more high-profile international affair, President Rouhani formally opens parliament, and sets out its responsibility to guard and uphold Iran’s constitution. Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign affairs chief, and the heads of states of dozens of countries will attend.

But have the fanfare and celebrations been overshadowed by new US sanctions against Iran, which President Donald Trump signed into law on August 2? 

For the most part, Thursday’s swearing-in ceremony — known as tanfiz in Persian — avoided mention of the sanctions. Rouhani and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s speeches both subscribed to what they were expected to say. Rouhani praised Iran's greater engagement with the international community, while Khamenei grabbed an opportunity to lash out at the United States. However, their messages did complement one another — which has not always been the case. 

Khamenei conceded that “of course, sanctions create problems for the country.” But his characteristic spin on developments also led him to announce: “Due to sanctions, we have opened our eyes to our own strengths. Today, despite the enemies’ desire, we are powerful...Today, the Iranian people have learned how to take measures [to confront] the enemy's plots, and Iranian officials know how to deal with the enemy.”

In his speech, Rouhani said the nuclear agreement showed Iran’s good will in engaging with the world. He credited “a combination of diplomacy power and defensive power” for the country’s success in “leaving the hardest sanctions behind.”

Elsewhere in his speech, like Rouhani, Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized the need for “extensive interaction with the world.” At the same time, he told President Rouhani he must “confront any hegemony strongly and firmly — any government that it might involve! Today the most appalling and aggressive is the US government.” He pointed out that “four decades of experience in international relations reveals that the cost of surrendering to aggressive powers is far greater than the cost of standing up to them.”

Rouhani sounded a similar theme of warning: “Although the Islamic Republic of Iran has paid the price of the country’s independence and will continue to do so,” he said, “it will never accept any isolation imposed by its enemies”.

Both Khamenei and Rouhani were united in their declaration that Iran would resist American pressures, and in the way they ignored the new US sanctions. Their harmony is an indicator of how the top leaders of the Islamic Republic want to, or hope to, deal with the hostility of Trump’s administration.

Confronting American “Terrorism”

On July 30, Iranian media reported that during a meeting of the heads of the three branches of government, President Rouhani, parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Judiciary Chief Sadegh Larijani reviewed their options for dealing with the new sanctions. After the meeting, Rouhani announced that his administration and Iranian armed forces supported a draft bill in parliament labeled “Confronting the United States’ Adventurous and Terrorist Actions in the Region.” He said that Iran’s JCPOA Supervisory Committee would explore ways to confront sanctions. The supervisory committee is an inter-branch body that reports to Iran’s High National Security Council on the JCPOA, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the nuclear deal is officially known.

In a committee meeting on July 31, members “stressed that the US has violated its commitments in the JCPOA, especially Paragraphs 26, 28 and 29, demanding Iran to respond strongly, accordingly and wisely to the US administration’s stances.” The committee said it drafted responses to 16 paragraphs in order to combat American “provocations.” The plans are due to be forwarded to relevant government departments, including the foreign ministry and the Atomic Energy Organization.

The parliament’s draft bill aims to impose sanctions on American officials and would give the judiciary new powers to seize the properties and funds belonging to blacklisted individuals.

“Strengthening” the Revolutionary Guards

The same bill would require the government to provide the Revolutionary Guards with 1,000 billion tomans (over $300 million) to expand Iran’s missile program and the expeditionary Quds Force, with the same amount dedicated toward “fighting terrorism.” Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who also leads the Headquarters for Implementing the JCPOA, confirmed that the Revolutionary Guards and the Quds Force would be “strengthened” in response to new American sanctions. Earlier, on July 24, President Rouhani met with five senior commanders of the Revolutionary Guards; both the president and the Guards announced that both sides would cooperate in the face of sanctions.

It appears that President Rouhani’s strategy for dealing with sanctions and Trump’s administration is to ally himself with the judiciary, the parliament and the Revolutionary Guards so that he will not be alone in safeguarding the JCPOA, his biggest achievement over the last four years. And the Supreme Leader hopes that this alliance in the face of President Trump’s hostility will forestall the introduction of other agreements like the JCPOA. He also hopes his model for standing up to the US will now squeeze out Rouhani’s, which has been based on diplomacy and reducing tensions.

In short, for the moment at least, Trump and the US Congress have successfully forced a marriage of convenience between Iran’s highly competitive power centers.