New US Sanctions Rile Iranian Politicians of All Stripes

Iranian politicians across the country’s otherwise splintered political spectrum reacted angrily to new US sanctions imposed on August 29. While hardliners hit out the most forcefully, President Hassan Rouhani also delivered a sharp critique of the American move, arguing that they went against the spirit of the nuclear negotiations and would deepen the distrust of Iranians.

“[Sanctions] are illegal and a violation of the rights of the Iranian nation,” said Rouhani at a press conference on August 30. “We will stand up to these sanctions with all our might. We will bypass them, and we believe that [those] sanctions affecting medicine and food are inhumane.”

The new sanctions target firms and individuals suspected of helping Iran’s nuclear program, helping the Islamic Republic evade sanctions or supporting terrorist activities.

Rouhani accused the United States of being the only nation among the P5+1 group of countries lacking the goodwill to make negotiations succeed. “In their view these new sanctions are not new, [but] we do not believe it was the right thing to do,” he said. Despite airing his disappointment with the new sanctions, he said Iran will continue negotiating and that  “we hope to come to an understanding in the remaining time.”

Two weeks prior to Washington’s announcement, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei declared that “negotiations with the US are futile.” Khamenei specifically invoked the failure of negotiations to “produce any results” around sanctions relief, and challenged the American assertion that the sanctions must not be viewed as "new," but a parcel with sanctions that the US has been imposing for over two years.

Though Rouhani spoke sharply on Saturday, angry hardliners still sought a more robust Iranian response.  “The Americans are the main obstacle to an agreement,” said Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s Committee on Foreign Policy and National Security. “The foreign ministry must warn the P5+1 that the US does not stay the course.”

Another member of the commission, Ismael Kosary, went even further, demanding that Iran freeze the negotiations, now extended until 24 November. “It is not enough that our negotiations team should condemn this action by the US,” he said. “It must also show its objection by actions and stop the negotiations.”

The chairman of the committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, however, took a more moderate position, noting that the United States could not be trusted, but that Iran could register a protest at the upcoming round of negotiations.

Even the Moderates Displeased

It was not only the hardliners that demanded a strong Iranian response. Mohammad Nabi Habibi, secretary-general of the moderate Islamic Coalition party, said the United States was flouting the Geneva interim agreement, and that the “Islamic Republic must retaliate tit for tat.”

Fereydoon Abbasi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization under former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, criticized the new sanctions but said they would have no bearing on Iran’s nuclear industry, which was “running on different tracks.”  Abbasi suggested that the country’s nuclear prowess was unstoppable. “Negotiations might slow it down for a couple of years but our achievements will not disappear. We are now using our nuclear knowledge in many other fields such as aeronautics, medicine and petroleum.”

The hardline website Raja News, affilited with the powerful, anti-Rouhani Endurance Front, presented the new sanctions as a sign of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s weakness. Zarif, the website wrote, had previously said that “any new sanctions by the US would invalidate the agreement.” The government does not appear to be able to defend its previous positions,” read an editorial.

In another piece Raja News attacked Rouhani for saying he would continue with negotiations despite the new sanctions, which it argued rendered the negotiations void. “If those responsible for Iranian diplomacy had reacted early on to the Western violations of the Geneva agreement and had stood up to the excessive demands of the White House and its allies, we would not been witnessing the illegal expansion of sanctions which are against the explicit provisions of the agreement,” read the piece.

But Maybe Not the End, Yet

In perhaps the most revealing media response to emerge around the news, Kayhan, the hardline newspaper affiliated with Khamenei’s office, ran this headline: “The sanctions are criminal but they do not damage the basis for negotiations.”

One newspaper, Vatan-e Emrouz, managed by an ally of Ahmadinejad, suggested the sanctions were cover for an American attempt to extract intelligence from Iran. “Barack Obama wants to pressure Iran to reveal more information about its defense,” wrote the newspaper in an editorial.

“The Americans have charged the International Atomic Energy Agency to get sensitive information about Iranian defense capabilities and especially about Iranian defense scientists under the guise of the arbitrator for the Iranian obligations under the Geneva agreement. Iran gave information to the agency but they have imposed new sanctions to get more information.”

While the new sanctions gave easy fodder to hardliners eager to prove that Khamanei has been right all along with his insistence that the West cannot be trusted, they may well be quickly forgotten in the short term, with Rouhani and his team keen to resume talks. Their determination to secure a final deal is far larger than momentary pique, and they well understand the domestic context behind American’s fondness for sanctioning Iran.