PHOTO: Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani with the Supreme Leader

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Despite the Supreme Leader’s conditional endorsement of the July 14 nuclear deal, Iran’s hardliners are continuing to challenge it.

The critics went as far as heckling Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani as he attended a religious ceremony hosted by the Supreme Leader last weekend. Slogans included “Death to Hypocrites” and “Ignorance, the Nation’s Shame”.

Observers noted that Ayatollah Khamenei did not react; however, Sadegh Larijani, head of judiciary and the brother of the Speaker, subsequently said, “Opponents of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] have gone too far.”

Some MPs agreed. Hossein Sobhaninia called on officials to “identify the primary elements behind such unlawful actions”. However, fellow MP Hamid Resaei published a letter insisting, “We should still be worried about the deal”:

Khamenei’s letter is not able to remove all the controversy over the nuclear deal. One should take note of the President’s behavior after the Supreme Leader defined [Iran’s] commitments under the nuclear deal; this was unfortunately shown in Rouhani’s letter in response to the Supreme Leader.

The Supreme Leader had commanded that all sanctions must be removed and the structure [of sanctions] must be destroyed. Rouhani responded in his letter, however, that all sanctions had already been removed and the structure of sanctions had already been completely destroyed!

The conservative faction Followers of the Velayat — the largest in Parliament, with more than 170 MPs — released a letter to President Rouhani calling for the Government to be “confident” that all sanctions will be removed before beginning the implementation of the nuclear deal.

The paramilitary Basij Organization also maintained pressure, “If only the strongest diplomacy had been employed during the negotiations, so that these considerations, which had previously been noted in the form of red lines, were incorporated into the text of the JCPOA — but now that the JCPOA, with these weaknesses, is before us, the only way we have is to be careful and alert in dealing with this document; the smallest neglect of the Supreme Leader’s letter is very dangerous and unforgivable.”

(hat tip to Iran Tracker for translations)

Journalist Rejai Freed After 4 1/2 Years

Journalist and political activist Ali Rejai has been released after 4 1/2 years in prison.

Rejai, an executive member of the Association of Journalists and a member of the Nationalist-Religious movement, was freed on Monday. His wife and children have already left Iran because of pressure on the family.