Iran hardliners threat to silence former FM Javad Zarif

Rudaw

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian hardliners have given former Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif three days to retract his comments in a magazine piece about proposing a permanent peace between Iran and the US.

Zarif who was the architect of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015 published the article in the Foreign Affairs setting out a plan for a possible ceasefire and permanent peace between the US and Iran and even restoration of full diplomatic relations.
This has caused an outcry in Iran with banners appearing in pro-regime rallies calling for his execution and calling him an American stooge.

“Some friends say they have no doubt that Zarif is a spy, the intelligence people, are you waiting for Zarif to write on his temple that he is an American mercenary,” Saeed Hadadian, an orator close to late Ali Khamanei said on Friday night. “You are talking nonsense and have no right to issue a prescription for the Islamic Republic … you have three days to repent and retract your comments…”

President Donlad Trump has recently said that if Iran does not agree to a ceasefire, it will send them back to “the Stone Ages where they belong.”

Zarif himself had reservations about publishing the proposal at a time when the US and Israel were carrying out extensive air campaigns against the regime and just over a month after Israel killed the powerful Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and scores of other military commanders and officials.

“As an Iranian, outraged by Donald Trump’s reckless aggression & crude insults, yet proud of our armed forces & resilient people, I am torn about publishing this peace-plan in Foreign Affairs,” Zarif posted on X. “Yet I'm convinced that war must end on terms consistent with Iran’s national interests.”

The proposal for a permanent peace angered many. Ali Motahari, a powerful parliamentarian, said that the time is not for peace. “This is not a suitable time for ending the war and more economic pressure should be inflicted on the US and Israel," Motahari said. “The enrichment should continue … The issue of missiles is not negotiable.”

Motahari added that the ultimate end for the war is the payment of war reparation to Iran by the US and the lifting of all the sanctions.

Hossein Shariatmadari who edits the Kayhan newspaper and was appointed by late Khamenei said that Zarif proposal was capitulation and called on the judiciary to intervene and file charges against him.

Photos of Zarif were seen in videos on social media being set on fire. One banner in a protest went as far as calling on the judiciary to try Zarif and former President Hassan Rouhani and hang them as traitors.

This comment by Zarif appears to have opened up a rift that has been developing for many years between the so-called reformists and hardliners.

Supreme leader Ali Khamenei used to manage the tension between the two camps but he is gone, it is not clear how this will impact the country in the midst of a devastating war.