Khamenei slams top Iran leaders
Print Edition
Iran’s Supreme Leader publicly chastised the country’s Moderate President and Foreign Minister on Wednesday, saying he disagreed with the implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal they had negotiated with world powers.
The extraordinary comments by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the first time he’s criticized both politicians by name, came amid tensions with the United States a year after Washington’s withdrawal from the accord.
The White House earlier this month sent an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the region over a still-unexplained threat it perceived from Iran.
Since that development, Iran has announced it will back away from the atomic accord. The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, alleged that four oil tankers were sabotaged off its coast and Iranian-allied rebels in Yemen have launched drone attacks into Saudi Arabia.
Both Washington and Tehran have said they want to ease heightened tensions in the region in recent days. But many fear a miscalculation between the two countries could escalate the situation.
Yesterday, US officials said the Pentagon will brief the White House on plans to send up to 10,000 additional troops to the Middle East. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, made the comments before hard-line students gathered for a Ramadan lecture. For years, hardliners have criticized the accord for giving too much away to the West.
Khamenei had given his implicit stamp of approval on the deal, which when signed sparked celebrations across Iran. The accord saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions.
But the deal has unraveled after US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal, with the US re-imposing old sanctions and coming up with even stricter new ones.
“To some extent, I did not believe in the way that the nuclear deal was implemented,” Khamenei said, according to his official website. “Many times I reminded both the President and the Foreign Minister.”
Khamenei has previously warned the West, especially the US, wasn’t trustworthy. But he hasn’t named the country’s top politician and his top diplomat before Wednesday night. He’s previously said the two — President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif — had done the best they could.
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