Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, Aug. 6, 2019 – In its editorial, Javan daily – affiliated directly to the Iranian regime’s terrorist-designated Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) – wrote the following: "Sanctions against [Iranian regime foreign minister Javad] Zarif must be interpreted in the context that the U.S. government seeks to overthrow the establishment in a style similar to that of the [MEK]." Last week, the U.S. imposed sanctions against the regime's foreign minister in continuation of designating the IRGC as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” and imposing sanctions against Ali Khamenei, the regime's supreme leader.
This news outlet wrote, "In the past 25 years, the U.S. has banked less on the Iranian opposition and has focused its attention on the inside of the establishment. However, with the Trump administration coming to office, the situation has changed. The current U.S. government is the first in the past 25 years to not invest in reformers to counter with the establishment."
"The Obama Administration saw a difference between [Saeed] Jalili and Zarif, but the Trump Administration doesn't see a difference between [Qassem] Suleimani and Zarif," this IRGC-owned newspaper emphasized, respectively referring to the regime's former head of the regime nuclear negotiation team and the head of the terrorist Quds Force.
"The Trump Administration sees no difference between reformers and principalists," the publication added.
Arman daily, with ties to the government of regime President Hassan Rouhani, described sanctions against Zarif as "sanctions against the entire diplomacy" of the regime and brought Zarif's future career under question.
This state-run newspaper wrote, "We have to wait and see if Zarif can decide for his future, or if there will be any place for him in the various layers of the country's diplomacy inside and outside Iran."
Arman adds, "It is wrong to think that Trump is alone in his decision to sanction various individuals and, according to some analysts in Iran and abroad, that his team's foreign policy is shaky.
"The fact that Zarif has been sanctioned is a symbolic move against the establishment's diplomacy."
Arman concludes, "With this move, the entire diplomacy of the regime is in a state of limbo, not only Zarif but all our diplomats in various countries and our ambassadors. This will change global behavior toward our diplomacy apparatus."
"The thought that we can preserve the JCPOA with the Europeans has expired," said Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, member of the Majlis (Parliament) National Security and Foreign Affairs Commission, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal forged between the Iranian regime and world powers in 2015. The U.S. withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 citing its inefficiencies in addressing Tehran's nuclear ambitions and curbing the mullahs' terrorism and ballistic missile program.
"The Europeans were very slow to take action on the developing events. First, they attempted to take political positions against the [Iranian regime's] ultimatums. However, in the joint commissions, it became clear that the Europeans have no plan or capacity to solve the current situation," Falahatpisheh said.
"The Europeans want the [Iranian regime] to stop its activities in violation of the JCPOA, and the establishment seeks fundamental changes in the sanctions and the restoration of the oil sales and financial transactions. As long as this doesn't happen, the rest is diplomatic gesturing," Falahatpisheh concluded.
