PHOTO: 1st Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri “We are not after a bad deal at all”
LATEST: Rouhani to Iranians — Please March on Wednesday’s Anniversary of the Revolution
The Rouhani Government has echoed the Supreme Leader’s call to the US and its partners to accept the nuclear deal on the table, proclaiming it a compromise by both sides, while warning that Iran will walk away if Washington does not respond.
On Sunday, Ayatollah Khamenei proclaimed, “Negotiations are all about trying to reach a common stand. This means that one side would not end up getting all it wants.”
See Iran Daily, February 9: Supreme Leader to US — Accept Our Nuclear Compromise. Now.
But while indicating that the Islamic Republic has made concessions over its position on uranium enrichment and nuclear facilities, the Supreme Leader said that the deal must now be accepted by the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, Germany, Russia, China, and France): “I am not for a bad deal. No agreement is better than an agreement which runs contrary to our nation’s interests.”
On Monday, 1st Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri repeated, “We have emphasized since the beginningthat no deal is better than a bad deal and we are not after a bad deal at all. We seek an agreement that observes the rights of the Iranian nation.”
Jahangiri also reiterated the position of the Supreme Leader, reinforced by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday, that the US and Europe must remove sanctions on Iran’s oil and banking sectors within months of a comprehensive agreement.
The US has reportedly said that the lifting of the sanctions, which have crippled Iran’s economy, will take “years”.
The Vice President, appearing to anticipate failure to reach a deal, defended the talks since 2013 because they “prevented the imposition of new sanctions against the country”.
Iran and the 5+1 are seeking a resolution by a July 1 deadline. Both sides have said there will be no further extension of the deadline, missed twice last year, if negotiations fail to conclude the settlement.
President Rouhani’s senior advisor Mohammad Baqer Nobakht
The remarks of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution mean a final say for the government and the Islamic Republic. In compliance with His Excellency’s guidelines, we will accept any position that the other sides might have for the settlement of the nuclear issue if only they prove to be in the interest of the Islamic Republic.
Rouhani to Iranians: Please March on Wednesday’s Anniversary of the Revolution
Acknowledging Iran’s economic and political difficulties, President Rouhani has appealed to Iranians to set aside their worries and show support for the regime by marching on Wednesday’s anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Rouhani said in a Monday statement:
The February 11 is a day of national celebration and the Iranian nation’s day.
Undoubtedly, we can go through economic problems and the nuclear negotiations more easily with the high massive turnout of the Iranian nation in the February 11 rallies, and we can stand against expansionists in all the international issues more powerfully and defend the Iranian nation’s rights more easily and at lower costs.
Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani added, “[Iranians’] participation will also prove to the Western side in the nuclear negotiations that the nation is resolute in its will and demands so that the other side will not mistake the course of the negotiations [to be like those with] a business firm,”
