After President Donald Trump’s speech last week when he announced he would not certify that Iran was in compliance with the nuclear deal and that he would impose tougher sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Tehran’s political and military leadership rallied behind the IRGC.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday echoed comments made last week by Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari ahead of Trump’s speech, saying that the speech violated the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, known as the P5+1.
Zarif said on broadcast Saturday, “I have already written nine letters (to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini) listing the cases where the United States has failed to act on or delayed its commitments under the JCPOA,” Agence France-Presse reported Sunday.
More specifically, Zarif charged that Trump’s speech violated clauses calling on the parties involved to implement the deal “in good faith,” and to “refrain from re-introducing or re-imposing” sanctions that were lifted.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which was tasked with monitoring Iran’s adherence to the deal, admitted last month that it could not verify Iran’s compliance with elements of the accord listed in Section T. Iran, backed by Russia, has said that the IAEA has no authority over its Section T obligations.
Trump’s call for sanctions on the IRGC cited “its support for terrorism” and not any proliferation violations.
The IRGC and one of its generals, Qassem Soleimani, assisted Iraqi forces in capturing Kirkuk from the Kurds on Monday.
In a tweet Saturday, Zarif made common cause with the IRGC, claiming that all Iranians, “boys, girls, men, women,” are IRGC.
Today, Iranians–boys, girls, men, women–are ALL IRGC; standing firm with those who defend us & the region against aggression & terror.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) October 14, 2017
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu countered that Zarif should “delete his account,” wondering, “I’d love to know what the Iranian people think of that tweet.” Netanyahu continued, “Sadly, the regime bans them from using Twitter. Ironic, don’t you think?” (In the past, Zarif has laughed when he asked if it bothered him that regular Iranians were banned from Twitter, though he is allowed to use the platform.)
“See, I’m sure that ordinary Iranians aren’t proud when the Revolutionary Guard murders innocent men and women around the globe. I’m sure that ordinary Iranian mothers and fathers wouldn’t have blown up a Jewish community center in Argentina filled with little children. Because that’s what the the Revolutionary Guard did,” Netanyahu continued. “I am sure that ordinary Iranians want to live in peace and don’t want their government to shoot students in the streets, hang gays from cranes, torture journalists in prison.”
[Photo: Twitter ]