The liberals of America are angry at President Trump – and so are the conservatives of Iran, albeit for different reasons. The guy just can’t catch a break. What’s the problem with the Iranians? Why, it’s that damn JCPOA, aka the Iran Nuclear deal that President Trump promised to rip up. Rohollah Faghihi reports on AL Monitor:
During the US presidential election, [Hossein] Shariatmadari described Trump’s promise to tear up the deal as “the wisest decision.” He said, “The JCPOA is a golden document for the United States but is considered nothing except humiliation and a loss for Iran.”
Shariatmadari, who is the chief editor of hard-line Kayhan newspaper, told Fars News Feb. 7, “Trump was unaware during his presidential campaign what a big and windfall score the JCPOA has provided for the United States. That is why he had promised to tear up the JCPOA.”
He added, “Unfortunately, Trump has now come to his senses and has realized that his ex-pals [in the White House] swindled Iran. Therefore, not only is he unwilling to tear up the JCPOA, but he also announced that he will support [the JCPOA] completely.”
Since the signing of the JCPOA in 2015, the hard-liners have been attacking the nuclear deal in order to disvalue it in the eyes of ordinary people in Iran, so that in the presidential election in May the moderates and Reformists would not be able to brag about the JCPOA as an achievement.
I wonder how much the Iranian hard line conservatives are opposed to the deal out of fear – the fear that, if the deal is successful in reviving the economy and returning Iran to the world community, the conservatives will be discredited, perhaps for more than a generation. This would be analogous to the GOP fear of the ACA, in that it would solidify Democratic control of Congress for many years as people perceive how it improves their lives.
Or could this be Iranian subtlety? Something to think about. Although the Iranian hardliners have been consistent in their hatred of the JCPOA.
Politics, politics, politics, while lives swing in the balance…
