PHOTO: Tehran Friday Prayer leader Ayatollah Emami Kashani
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Iran’s regime pressed its warnings of Western “sedition” on Friday, with clerics and military leaders maintaining pressure on the Rouhani Government.
Delivering the Tehran Friday Prayer, Ayatollah Emami Kashani echoed the Supreme Leader’s caution that the US and its allies are using the July 14 nuclear deal to undermine the Islamic Republic:
In the story of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] and the negotiations, we understood that the enemy wants to eliminate Iran….Therefore from this experience with the “global arrogance” [American and the West] and foreign domination, we must prevent their influence.
When we want to prevent their influence, we must create walls and protect our economy, morals, and policies. [But while] this wall-building in today’s conditions is necessary…it is not sufficient.
Ayatollah Khamenei has repeatedly tried to set limits on relations with the US since Iran’s nuclear agreement with the 5+1 Powers, ruling out negotiations on regional issues. He has stoked internal tensions with statements, reiterated on Tuesday, that America is always pursuing conspiracies for regime change.
The warnings have given space for others, notably the Revolutionary Guards, to carry out detentions and to criticize the Government. As Guards head Mohammad Ali Jafari declared the threat of a “fourth sedition”, five journalists and an Iranian-Lebanese businessman were detained this week.
On Wednesday, President Rouhani pushed back: “Let us not go and arrest one person here, another there, based on an excuse and without any reason, and then make up a case and aggrandize it, and finally say this is an infiltration movement.”
The Threat of “McDonald’s Diplomacy”
The Tehran Friday Prayer was introduced by Revolutionary Guards General Gholam Reza Jalali, the head of the Passive Defense Organization, who cited the threat of “the development of social networks, ‘McDonald’s diplomacy’, and diplomacy in various spheres”. He assured,
“Fortunately the Supreme Leader, as a guardian and as a captain of a ship, wisely tracks the threats and informs the people and officials when necessary.”
Other clerics implied that the Rouhani Government and its supporters were complicit in the Westsern threat. Ayatollah Mojtahed Shabestari, the Prayer Leader in Tabriz, denounced “some…ignorant domestic [individuals] who provide a way for the enemy to infiltrate [Iran]”.
However, one Prayer Leader held out against the warnings. In Isfahan, Hojatoleslam Tabatabaeinejad supported contacts with the “West”:
The JCPOA has been approved by the Parliament, Guardian Council, and [Supreme] National Security Council, so we must not equate it with influence… The presence of one British [citizen] on a tour is not influence. The coming of individuals does not mean influence at all; I believe that the existence of one person is not considered influence and cancer.
I have no doubt that these are filthy people, but allow these people to come to the country and consider the country’s progress during the years of sanctions.
Rouhani Government Bans Import of US Consumer Goods
The Rouhani Government has banned the import of American consumer goods.
Industry, Mines, and Trade Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh issued a directive to his deputies on Thursday to implement the ban because of the goods as “a symbolic presence of the US in Iran”.
Nematzadeh said his order was based on the recent letter from the Supreme Leader to President Rouhani declaring that the implementation of the July 14 nuclear deal must promote the “Resistance Economy”. Ayatollah Khamenei instructed the President to establish mechanisms for “empowering national production” while blocking US-made goods.
In the Tehran Friday Prayer, Ayatollah Emami Kashani emphasized, “The country must be independent when it comes to living conditions, and must be self-reliant in [the areas of]… production, and economy. The resistance economy must be implemented as it can resolve many problems in the country.”
Supreme Leader’s Aide: “Syria is International Islamic Front Against Zionists and Americans”
The Supreme Leader’s representative to the Revolutionary Guards has declared the necessity for Iran’s support of Syria’s Assad regime as “an international Islamic front against the Zionists and the Americans”.
General Yahya Rahim Safavi explained, “The Americans, the Zionists, and some Arab countries — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey –– are on this side in order to overthrow the legitimate government of Bashar al Assad.”
He concluded, “In the five years of victory of the resistance front against the terrorists, Iran has been [at the center]; Iran’s main power and advisory focus in the fight against the takfiri terrorists is very crucial.”
Rahim Safavi made the remarks as he visited the family of General Hossein Hamedani, the overall Iranian commander in Syria killed last month.
