PHOTO: Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif with US Secretary of State John Kerry, June 2015

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Trying to ease complications over the July 2015 nuclear deal, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has asked the US for a “letter of comfort” to remove financial restrictions on Tehran.

Concluding a tour of Latin America on Friday, Zarif said the Islamic Republic is ready for the letter from the US Treasury “so that foreign banks can cooperate with Iran”.

Following January’s implementation of the nuclear agreement, the European Union lifted its sanctions on Tehran. However, US action has been limited: months are needed for the removal of some measures, others have been imposed because of Iran’s ballistic missile testing, and Washington has barred other steps such as Iranian access to the American financial system.

Iranian hardliners and the Supreme Leader have used the situation to put pressure on the Rouhani Government. Ayatollah Khamenei has chided the President over weakness in dealing with the Americans and has rebuked Rouhani over his declarations of plans for economic recovery.

In a meeting in London this spring, US Secretary of State John Kerry encouraged European banks and companies to renew business with Iran. However, the firms have been reluctant to do so, fearing that they could be punished under American legislation.

While appealing to the US Government for assistance, Zarif showed a firm line on other matters, criticizing Kerry over statements about Iran’s role in the Yemeni civil war.

The Foreign Minister said comments by Kerry, claiming Iranian weapons supplies to the Houthi movement that has taken power in Yemen’s capital Sana’a, “ignore reality”:

By such statements, the US administration has implicated itself in the Saudi regime’s war crimes and inhumane and infanticidal atrocities against the innocent and oppressed Yemeni people. It should undoubtedly accept responsibility and be answerable for all the inhuman crimes.

Zarif pointed at Saudi Arabia as the threat, saying Riyadh had commmitted “war crimes” in its intervention in the war from March 2015.

Friday Prayer Leaders Repeat Supreme Leader’s Warning to Rouhani

Iran’s Friday Prayer leaders have repeated a warning by the Supreme Leader to President Rouhani that he must concentrate on running the country rather than campaigning for re-election next day.

In Tehran, Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi said there should be no “political grandstanding and campaigning” as “it is not clear whether [the Rouhani Government] will have another opportunity to serve the people”.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Leader publicly cautioned Rouhani in a meeting with the President and the Cabinet, ruling out any preparations for a campaign as the Government must focus on how to “serve the nation”.

See Iran Daily, August 25: Supreme Leader Tells Off His President

Sedighi also reiterated Ayatollah Khamenei’s line that the Government has been too weak in dealing with the US, blaming it for not “not being ready” to mention Washington’s “unfaithfulness” in implementation of the nuclear agreement.

The Qom prayer leader, Hojatoleslam Mohammad Saidi, echoed the criticism and also pushed the Supreme Leader’s pressure over economic policy, saying the Government must “pay special attention” to boosting domestic production. The Ahvaz prayer leader, Ayatollah Mohsen Heydari, said official must “solve as quickly as possible” the poor economic conditions facing Iran.

And in Mashhad, Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda warned his audience not to imitate the Rouhani administration’s “promotion of cultural indifference and strengthening of secular elements”.