Heroic Flexibility Was to Dupe America

Rooz Online

At the end of the latest round of nuclear talks when Rouhani was dubbed as the Man of Talks by Mehdi Taeb, the most hardline extremist supporter of Iran’s former president Ahmadinejad, hardline conservatists grouped as principlists are now threatening the administration, summoning its cabinet ministers and are now openly condemning talks with the US.

Raja news, a site close to the Jebhe Paydari (Steadfast Front belonging to supporters of Ahmadinejad) published a story criticizing foreign minister Javad Zarif’s behavior with these words: “Smiles for foreigners and animosity with domestic critics is the policy of the administration and its foreign minister.”

This is the news agency’s reference to the latest round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers in Vienna which ended last Thursday with an upbeat and hopeful note by all sides. Raja news specifically referred to the images that were broadcast regarding the press interview that Zarif had with foreign media following the talks.

Wendy Sherman, US under-secretary of state who leads the US delegation to the P5+1 and Iran talks was upbeat in her interview with Radio Farda (the Iranian Branch of the US congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) when she said that the talks were “professional and responsible.” She also said that important steps had been taken since Rouhani’s presidency which could not have been imagined before.

But Iran’s hardline conservatists continue criticize Rouhani’s administration and make comments against talks with the US. Ahmad Janati, the secretary of the influential Guardians Council spoke on the subject during his public Friday prayer session at Tehran University. “There is a group of people in this country who are trying to create an underground network to establish relations with the US and I do not understand what they have drunk from the American cup that they are following,” he said.

At the same time, Ali Larijani the speaker of Iran’s parliament the Majlis told Figaro Italian newspaper that “Talks with P5+1 and relations with the US are two different issues. Our differences with the US are not superficial and have deep roots. We must see whether these roots can be resolved or not. The US must take various measures to resolve the issue … .”

In a related development, influential hardline cleric Mehdi Taeb, the head of Ammar base, said that nuclear talks had been going on for the last “16-17 years and they were never stopped. The only difference is that this time the Americans are present at the talks as well.”

He asserted that the US wanted to talk to Iran while Iran was not interested. “Now is the time to show America’s insincerity so that people of the world understand that they do not want talks. Ahmadinejad was useless for talks because he used to say that he did not accept the Holocaust and that Israel must be eliminated from the world. But Mr. Rouhani is good for talks. In fact negotiations are written over his forehead. So the US can no longer say that he (Rouhani) does not want to talk. They could have argued that he is a nobody in Iran and that the supreme leader guides everything. But the supreme leader launched the notion of ‘heroic flexibility’ so that the US accepts to engage in talks.”