PHOTO: President Rouhani on State TV on Sunday night


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In a nationally-televised interview on Sunday, President Rouhani assured Iranians of a “win-win” deal with the 5+1 Powers over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Discussing the July 14 agreement, Rouhani said Iran had achieved its three goals, including recognition of the right to enrich uranium and the eventual lifting of US-led sanctions. Explaining that Iran had never pursued an atomic bomb, he added, “If the other side in the negotiations thinks it has achieved [this] goal, let this be a victory for it.”

Countering hardline critics of any agreement with the US and its allies, the President said, “We cannot say we have 100% trust in the partners to the agreement, but we can devise a mechanism under which no side would face a loss if the other breached the agreement.”

He claimed that the maintenance of an interim nuclear agreement from November 2013 had shown that a comprehensive agreement can also be “capable of standing”.

On the specific provisions over inspections, which have been challenged by both US and Iranian hardliners, Rouhani reassured his domestic challengers, “No one in the world would trade its national security…[and] its secrets.”

The President emphasized the economic benefits of the deal, putting it in a context where his Government would address youth unemployment and reduce inflation — 45% when Rouhani took office in August 2013 — to less than 10%.

The deal was presented to Parliament last week, where critics are insisting on a vote of approval. The Government maintains that MPs can only advise and the endorsement is in the hands of the Supreme National Security Council.


Rumors of Arrests As Ahmadinejad’s Men Mobilize Against Nuclear Deal

Rumors of arrests of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s allies are gathering, days after they gathered to plan opposition to the nuclear deal.

Last Thursday, the Ahmadinejad group held a private meeting at the Iranian University, set up by the former President when he left office in 2013. However, three of Ahmadinejad’s inner circle — former Chief of State Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, former Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh, and former Vice President Ali Saeedlou — did not attend.

The absences sparked rumors of arrests. Malekzadeh still faces corruption charges from 2011, while financial allegations have also circulated around Rahim-Mashai and Saeedlou.

One MP, Gholam Ali Jafarzadeh, has said that a member of Ahmadinejad’s Government has been detained.

Iran’s judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei denied the claims of the arrests of Rahim Mashai and Saeedlou.


Dispute Between Government and IRIB Over “Private” Revelations on Nuclear Deal

The Foreign Ministry and State broadcaster IRIB have been embroiled in a dispute over coverage of the nuclear deal, following claims that IRIB published private comments of the Deputy Foreign Minister.

The Minister, Abbas Araqchi, had a confidential meeting with IRIB officials on Saturday, but the State outlet’s website posted a summary, later removed after the Foreign Ministry’s protest.

According to Araqchi, US Secretary of State John Kerry said, “Due to your successes, the countries in the regions have become your enemy,” while warning of a “very high possibility of attack” on Iran in the past decade.

The Minister indicated the economic motive for Tehran’s pursuit of the deal, saying, “The cost of the nuclear issue has been very high and inefficient.”

He assured IRIB that, despite the agreement, Iran will continue to send weapons to its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

The dispute comes as hardliners have increased their presence within IRIB, furthering criticism of the nuclear deal. The new political deputy, Peyman Jebelli, an ally of the hardline former Presidential candidate and nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.


Rafsanjani Sets Up Political Battle, Standing for Head of Assembly of Experts

Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has announced his candidacy for the leadership of the Assembly of Experts in next March’s election.

Rafsanjani led the Assembly, which selects and can nominally replace the Supreme Leader, from 2007 to 2011. He lost the post amid his political disputes within the regime and — despite his recovery as the mentor of President Hassan Rouhani — he failed to regain the post in March 2015.

The former President connected his candidacy with the campaign to take seats in next February’s Parliamentary elections. EA sources say Rafsajani, Rouhani, and Seyed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, are trying to establish a list of candidates to stand for the 86-member Assembly and may also work together for the Parliamentary vote.

Perhaps responding to Rafsanjani, Iran’s judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei said the 10-year prison sentence on the former President’s son, Mehdi Hashemi, confirmed in June.

Mehdi Hashemi has been pursued on charges of electoral and financial corruption since soon after the disputed 2009 Presidential election, putting pressure on his Rafsanjani.


Hardline Newspaper Banned Over Criticism of Nuclear Deal

The Press Supervisory Board has banned the weekly newspaper 9 Dey, a hardline publication led by MP Hamid Rasaei.

The Board has also warned the hardline outlets Kayhan and Raja News over “some headlines and content”, referring to a clause prohibiting the defamation of individuals and institutions.

No specific reason was given for the ban and warnings, but the three publications have been among the leading critics of the July 14 nuclear deal between Iran and the 5+1 Powers.

The Culture Ministry has issued instructions to the press on appropriate coverage of the agreement. Last Friday, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami used the Tehran Friday Prayer to reinforce the message that debate must not jeopardize unity in the Islamic Republic.

See Iran Daily, July 31: Leading Cleric Appeals for Unity Over Nuclear Deal

9 Dey’s Hamid Rasaei is a vocal critic of President Rouhani and an ally of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Last weekend, he was among MPs who challenged Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, demanding a vote on the nuclear deal.


US Presidential Candidate: Iran Could Carry Out Nuclear Attack on California Within 10 Years

In the latest sensational claim by US critics of the nuclear deal, a Republican Presidential candidate has said that Iran can carry out a nuclear attack on California within a decade.

Senator Marco Rubio said on Sunday in a speech to 450 influential donors near Los Angeles:

Iran will be not just a nuclear weapon power, but will have the capability to deliver that weapon to the continental United States in less than a decade.

I don’t think any of us wants to live in a country where a radical Shiite cleric in Tehran can have a nuclear weapon and an ICBM that can hit where we are sitting right now.

Five Republican candidates addressed the meeting organized by billionaires Charles and David Koch. The donors plan to spend almost $900 million before Election Day 2016, although not all of the expenditure will be on political operations.