Nuclear Deal Makes Hardliners Panic

As predicted, Iran’s hardliners wasted no time in attacking President Rouhani’s government when news of the nuclear deal between Iran and the 5+1 group of countries in Lausanne was announced.

For instance, Mehdi Mohammadi, a former nuclear negotiator under President Ahmadinejad and an outspoken critic of Rouhani’s nuclear policy, waited no time to point out how the decade long agreement gave no inkling of how Iran’s nuclear program could expand in future years and that it was a disaster for Fordow, an underground uranium enrichment facility nearby to the city of Qom. He also added how the timetable for lifting economic sanctions on Iran was “ambiguous.”

Social media users also expressed their fear and dismay about certain elements of the deal, particularly in regards to ending enrichment at Fordow. Many emphasized jokingly that the government was either planning to turn Fordow into an indoor football field or that Tehran’s mayor wanted to turn it into an amusement park. Others jested that the government should set up a sandwich shop there instead.

Managing editor of the hardliner publication Kayhan, Hossein Shariatmadari, told Fars news agency that Iran had given away a saddled horse and gotten a torn bridle in return. This sarcastic remark was reminiscent of when current Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani said the 2003 nuclear agreement was akin to Iran giving away a shiny pearl and receiving a lollypop in exchange. For many years, Larijani had to defend this statement and many expect Shariatmadari to do the same.

Although Friday Prayer leaders have so far supported the nuclear agreement - most probably because they were told to do so from “above” - hardliner cleric Hamid Rouhani told a Friday Prayer gathering that the Lausanne agreement had heightened anxiety by emphasising that “nuclear energy was Iran’s unquestionable right.”

Esmail Kosary, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, even discussed the possibility of bringing Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and chief nuclear negotiator Araghchi in for questioning.

“What was agreed in Lausanne between Iran and the 5+1 countries is nothing new and can’t be considered an achievement for us,” he said. “The process of negotiations dragged on in order to put people in a tight place.” He went on to say that the Iranian negotiating team had achieved little more than slogans and that there were key, unresolved differences between the texts published by Iran and the US.

Over the past two days, the hardliner press has been quick to point out these differences.

“If the text published by the American State Department isn’t correct and the text published by the Iranian Foreign Ministry is, then the Foreign Ministry must immediately issue a statement and deny the American one,” wrote Fars news agency. “It must emphasize that that is not what has been agreed and what has been agreed is in the Iranian text. Otherwise if the American text specifies details that the Iranian text has in generalities then we really have a disaster on our hands.”

Red lines were crossed

Mansour Haghighatpour, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, also made the point that one of the red lines – that of ensuring a one-stage agreement - had been ignored and that the Iranian Foreign Minister had given America every concession possible. He said that if Obama and Netanyahu were happy with an agreement then it could not be a good one, although he failed to specify how he knew that the Israeli Prime Minister approved of the deal when he has denounced it in public.

Critics also accused the government of using careful wording to cover up the fact that the deal is both a two-stage agreement and binding.

Mehrdad Bazrpash, a member of the parliamentary steering committee, said that if the Lausanne deal was binding, it would need to go through a legal process because the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, previously opposed a two-stage agreement - critics are therefore accusing the Iranian negotiating team of ignoring his wishes.

If it comes to light that the Lausanne accord is a binding agreement, the Iranian parliament would therefore need to agree to it. This suggests that in coming days, hardliners will emphasize parliament’s compulsory role in the matter, despite the Supreme Leader suggesting in recent years that parliament should steer clear of important decision-making.

The Rajaei News website also published a long feature that accused the Iranian nuclear negotiators of crossing a total of five red lines. Aside from accepting a two-stage agreement, negotiators failed at changing the structure of sanctions, especially in regards to the oil and banking sectors, and that it is only nuclear-related sanctions that have been “suspended” by world powers.

The website also identified the fact that the deal will outlaw uranium enrichment at the Fordow nuclear facility as another red line. “Now Iranian scientists must do their research 40 meters below ground when the same research can be done at Tehran’s University College of Physics,” the site wrote.

Finally, whilst reminding its readers that Iran is only allowed to operate 5,000 first-generation centrifuges, it said that the Supreme leader had said Iran needed to maintain a capacity of 190,000 Separative Work Units (SWUs) for uranium enrichment, which would require an additional 185,000 first-generation centrifuges to work.

The Lausanne agreement was signed just 24 hours ago and yet hardliners have already had a lot to say about it. But this is little more than the opening salvo against Rouhani’s nuclear team. Given many hardliners have yet to speak, there are many negative words that remain unspoken. It is a matter of time until they are.