Iran’s Khamenei: Some powers ‘unreliable’ on nuclear deal

Supreme leader of Islamic Republic calls for close scrutiny of nuke agreement; president says Tehran will uphold deal if world powers do

Times of Israel

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday warned that some of the world powers are unreliable, and that the nuclear deal reached earlier in the week must be scrutinized to ensure the other parties don’t violate it.

Speaking for the first time since the P5+1 countries and Iran reached an agreement in Vienna on Tuesday, following weeks of negotiations, Khamenei praised the negotiators’ efforts and told President Hassan Rouhani that “the text of the deal should be carefully scrutinized and the legal procedures should be taken so when the deal is ratified the other side cannot breach it.”

“We know it well that some of the six governments from the opposite party are by no means reliable,” Khamenei told Rouhani in a letter publicized on the Supreme Leader’s Persian-language website, in a possible allusion to the United States. Translations of the letter’s text were published on Iranian English news sites.

Khamenei had the final say in approving the deal, despite cautioning weeks earlier that the United States was couldn’t be trusted in the nuclear talks. On the Saturday before the deal was struck, Khamenei told students that Iran would continue to fight the US’s “global arrogance” whether or not an accord was reached.

“I trust that the respected nation will maintain solidarity and dignity so that national interests could be secured in a calm and wise atmosphere,” Khamenei’s letter translated by the Islamic Republic News Agency read.

Rouhani, meanwhile, echoed the Supreme Leader’s sentiments concerning the reliability of world powers in statements to the cabinet on Wednesday. According to a report by the semi-official Fars News Agency, the president said certain governments have a bad track record in adhering to agreements, and that Iran will be vigilant in ensuring their compliance.

The president said Iran will uphold its terms of the nuclear agreement so long as the P5+1 states keep their end, Fars reported.

Under the deal announced Tuesday, Iran’s nuclear program will be scaled back and closely monitored as the US and world powers seek to cut off its ability to develop an atomic weapon. In exchange, Iran will see biting economic sanctions gradually lifted, freeing up tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue and frozen assets.

While President Barack Obama on Wednesday defended the deal, saying it gave the US the leverage “to make sure they don’t have a weapon.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other critics, however, say the deal should have neutralized and dismantled Iran’s military nuclear facilities, and warn that the deal paves Iran’s path to the bomb and will send billions into its coffers which it will use to promote its violent agenda in the region and beyond.