Hardliners in Iran push back on potential US agreement

Conservative factions in Iran are pushing back against some parts of the reported deal with the United States.

US President Donald Trump has suggested a memorandum would be signed today – his 80th birthday. But there’s been no confirmation from Tehran that a final text has been agreed.

One prominent hardliner, Mahmoud Nabavian, said that if Iran signs the agreement “we will effectively become a colony of the United States,” saying that the agreement would mean opening up the vital Strait of Hormuz “even for Israel.”

“If we want to carry out even the smallest amount of uranium enrichment, we would first have to obtain permission from the United States—even for purposes such as producing medicine or electricity,” Nabavian added.

Nor was it clear when Iran would benefit from the release of its frozen assets overseas or sanctions relief, he added.

“The more signals of weakness we send, the closer war comes to us,” Nabavian said in a television interview.

The text of the agreement has not been officially released.

Several media outlets in Iran have warned against disunity.

The newspaper Javan, seen as close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said some speakers at public rallies were ignoring the instructions of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and were “acting to scatter the seeds of schism and division among the people.”

Participants at one rally in Tehran on Saturday demanded the resignations of Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, according to social media videos.

They recalled the assassination at the beginning of the conflict in February of Khamenei’s father – the previous Supreme Leader – with the chant: “Ghalibaf, Araghchi—what about my Leader’s blood?”

Ali Rabiei, an official close to President Masoud Pezeshkian, pushed back Sunday, warning against creating “artificial narratives.”

- CNN