Supreme Leader with an Iranian student, May 22, 2019

Amid pressure on Iran’s crippled economy, the Supreme Leader has blamed President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for the 2015 nuclear deal with the 5+1 Powers.

Ayatollah Khamenei told a group of Iranian students on Wednesday, “I did not believe in the way the JCPOA [the nuclear agreement] was done, and I have made this clear to the President and the Foreign Minister on many occasions.”

Khamenei pointed to a letter he sent to Rouhani on October 21, 2015, between the July agreement and its implementation in January 2016: “Read my letter regarding the JCPOA and the conditions set for its ratification. But, if these conditions were not met, it is not the Leader’s responsibility to intervene.”

The Supreme Leader said at the time that US-led sanctions must be lifted from “Day Zero” of implementation. But under the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Agreement, sanctions were to be lifted in stages.

Some American restrictions were never removed by the Obama Administration. Its successor under Donald Trump, seeking regime change in the Islamic Republic, left the deal in May 2018 and imposed comprehensive sanctions, including on Iran’s energy and financial sectors, in November.

The sanctions have been tightened in the last weeks, with the Revolutionary Guards declared a “foreign terrorist organization” and sanctions waivers ended for Iran’s largest oil customers.

Iran’s oil exports are down almost 60% since April 2018, and non-oil sales are also declining amid difficulties in completing financial transactions. Inflation is almost 50%; production and investment are hindered; unemployment, especially among youth, is rising; and the currency is at a historic low.

Khamenei absolved himself of any blame, saying the role of the Supreme Leader does not include “intervention in executive affairs” unless the Islamic Revolution is at risk.

He said of the negotiations with the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia): “The way the JCPOA was handled, I really did not believe in it, and mentioned my reservations to the President and the Foreign Minister and had warned them several times.”

Amid an escalation of US and UN sanctions until 2010, the Supreme Leader publicly held out against negotiations until autumn 2013. Then the newly-elected President Rouhani presented himself with a dossier laying out the scale of economic crisis if Iran did not reach an agreement over its nuclear program.