Commander of the Islamic
Revolution Guards Corps, Major General
Muhammad Ali Jafari, has some advice for Iran's nuclear negotiators:
declare the nuclear deal with
the West 'null and void' at the first sign
of a Western violation.
Revolutionary Guards Warn West May 'Renege' on Nuclear Deal (Kayhan, Iran)
Do competing interpretations about the meaning of the interim
deal between Iran and the West represent a rejection of that deal? According to
this news item from from Iran's state-run Kayhan, Commander
of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Major General Muhammad Ali Jafari, is warning that Iranian negotiators ' should
strongly consider declaring the deal null and void' if they sense any 'violation,
lack of commitment, trampling on the inalienable nuclear rights of our country,
or abuse of the agreement due to personal interpretations by [people in] the
West and U.S.'
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Major General Muhammad Ali Jafari appear to be playing good cop-bad cop among Iran's hardliners, with Khamenei supporting President Rouhani and the country's nuclear negotiators, Jafari warning that the West is already reneging.
TEHRAN:
Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Major General Muhammad Ali Jafari, said Monday that if the other side reneges on its
commitments, Iranian officials must nullify outright the
recent nuclear accord.
"(Iranian)
officials should strongly consider declaring the deal null and void if they see
any violation, lack of commitment, trampling on the inalienable nuclear rights
of our country, or abuse of the agreement due to personal interpretations by [people
in] the West and U.S.," he said.
General
Jafari stressed the need for diplomatic vigilance in the
talks, warning that the path between an initial agreement and a final one, as
charted out by negotiators, could both serve and harm Iran's interests. He also
said he regretted U.S. President Barack Obama’s repeated reference to the
military option, calling it "ludicrous."
"Such
absurd talk by officials of the United States and the false, evil Zionist
regime sounds odd to the Iranian nation," said Jafari,
adding that the U.S. and Zionist regimes are utterly incapable of taking military
action against Iran. He said any "stupid measure" taken by the
enemies would compel Iran to consider its own options.
"Lots
of options are also on the table for Iran, and they (the enemies) will receive
crushing responses, one of which would be the elimination of the Zionist
regime," he warned.
His
comments came as U.S. senators from both U.S. political parties are forging a
new agreement aimed at imposing new sanctions against Iran before Christmas.
According
to a report
in the Washington Post Monday, "a
bipartisan juggernaut of senior senators" is currently working on the
agreement, while the White House is trying to lobby against the move, afraid
that it could thwart talks to reach a final deal with Tehran, set to begin in
January.
"If
you want to hold our feet to the fire on the final deal, fine, do that," a
senior Obama Administration official was quoted by the paper as saying. "If
people have concerns about elements of a final agreement, come in and tell us.
But that is a separate discussion from passing a sanctions bill in the middle
of negotiations."
Administration
officials argue that additional sanctions now would violate the interim
agreement signed between the world powers and Iran in Geneva last weekend.
"Our
view is that passing these sanctions during the life of the negotiations would
complicate the negotiations in a number of ways," said the official quoted
in the report.
The
Senate is back in session December 9, and between now and then, according to
the report, "the White House has organized a full-court press to persuade
lawmakers not to act."
On
Friday, in a widely-circulated editorial, the
Washington Post said that the
U.S. and its partners have already agreed to allow Iran to enrich uranium "within
mutually agreed parameters" and gave their initial consent to a "sunset
clause" on restrictions in the nuclear deal negotiated in Geneva last
weekend.
Meanwhile,
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister and lead negotiator AbbasAraqchi said Iran and the world powers are likely to
meet again next week to discuss the implementation of the hard-fought deal recently
clinched on Tehran's nuclear energy program.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
The
breakthrough accord struck November 24 between Iran and the P5+1 - the United
States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany - foresees Tehran rolling
back some of its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
"Our
experts may hold a meeting next week in Vienna or Geneva to review the details
of implementing the agreement," national broadcaster IRIB
quoted AbbasAraqchi as saying.
He
added that the first phase of the accord, which will enter into force for six
months, will be implemented once the finer details have been thrashed out.
Tehran's
envoy to the IAEA, Reza Najafi,
indicated on Friday that Iran's six-month freeze of its nuclear program would begin
by early January.
Araqchi gave no date for the next round of
talks, but the ISNA News Agency, citing an Iranian
official, said political directors of the countries involved were expected to
meet with IAEA officials in Vienna Dec. 9 and 10.
"The
goal of that meeting is to set a date for the inspection (by IAEA experts) of the Gachin
(uranium) mine in Bandar Abbas Province and the
implementation of four other articles of the agreement," the unnamed
official said.
