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| Tehran: Rouhani Faces Harsh Dilemma |
| 2018-08-20 |
| [AAWSAT] The rejectionist cause received a major boost last week when “Supreme Guide” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly banned any negotiations with the US. The same position, albeit in a more radical manner, was expressed by Gen. Muhammad-Ali Aziz-Jaafari, who commands the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “We will not only not negotiate with Trump but will also refuse to talk to any future American president,” he said. The IRGC theoretician, Dr. Hassan Abbasi, nicknamed “Kissinger of Islam” has gone even further by demanding that Iran “go on the offensive” against the “Great Satan” by activating “thousands of sleeping cells” he claims exist in the United States. Against that background, President Hassan Rouhani faces a dilemma. If he denounces the ” nuke deal” and shuts the door to any future negotiations he would be admitting the failure of what he has marketed as his chief achievement in the past five years. He has tried to do two things. One is to go along with some of the key demands of the more radical faction led by Khamenei. On that score, Rouhani flew to Aqtau, in Kazakhstan, and signed the controversial Caspian Sea Convention that some analysts believe was dictated by Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2015 Khamenei had promised Putin that Iran would sign the convention but the move had been postponed because neither Tehran nor Moscow wanted to see the signature as a reward for Russia’s intervention in Syria in favor of the Iranian camp. Rouhani himself has opted for creative ambiguity with regard to the controversial Convention. Figures close to his faction, however, have adopted a more or less critical position on the issue. Rouhani’s creative ambiguity has angered his rivals within the establishment who have embarked on what looks like the beginning of a campaign to force him out. Placards raised at a demonstration by theological students in the “holy” city of Qom last week even threatened Rouhani with “the same fate as Rafsanjani”. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani was found dead in the swimming pool of the villa he had confiscated from Assadallah Alam, the late Shah’s Court Minister. “Oh, negotiator! The swimming pool is waring for you!” the placards said. Islamic Majlis member Alaeddin Borujerdi, close to the late Rafsanjani’s faction, has demanded a probe into what he terms “death threats” against the president. A periodical published by Sadeq Kharrazi, a former diplomat, related to Khamenei through marriage, has run an editorial entitled “Rouhani Is Finished!”, inviting the president to step down. |
| Posted by:3dc |