Hardliner Daily In Tehran Says JCPOA Was Bad And Remains Bad

Iran International Newsroom
Iranian and US flags next to each other in 2015 when the JCPOA was finaized
Iranian and US flags next to each other in 2015 when the JCPOA was finaized

The hardliner Kayhan daily in Iran, close to the Supreme Leader, has again attacked the impending nuclear agreement with the United States calling it worthless.

The hardliner paper wrote in an August 23 commentary that "all the claims about the nuclear agreement are lies and no sanctions are going to be lifted as a result of a deal" with Washington.

The Kayhan repeated its own rude rhetoric about the West in this commentary, calling Europe "a dog trained by the United States" and claimed that Europeans have turned to burning logs [as a result of fuel shortage caused by the war in Ukraine] and consuming rotten food [as a result of food shortage for the same reason]."

While parties are still negotiating to revive the 2015 agreement, JCPOA, Kayhan lashed out at its domestic supporters, mainly Iranian reformists, and wrote: "Weren't they saying every day that Iran was suffering a $100 million loss per day as the revival of the JCPOA was delayed? What has the Iranian economy gained after all that hurry to strike a deal?"

The hardliner daily accused the supporters of a deal with the United States of “throwing the country into a bottomless well."

Meanwhile the daily attributed the closure of several Iranian industrial plants to the nuclear deal while Iranian experts have said repeatedly that those firms were shut down after they were confiscated by the government and because inefficient government management pushed them into bankruptcy and closure.

Many politicians and pundits in recent days have argued that a nuclear deal is not a magic wand that will quickly fix Iran’s economic crisis. They pointed out that financial corruption and the government's inefficiency are responsible for up to 80 percent of the economic crisis in Iran and no breakthrough will happen unless those two problems are effectively tackled.

Incidentally, a report published on the same day in Didban Iran website in Tehran noted that more than half of government employees in Iran have been hired based on their connections, adding that more than 45 percent of government employees in Iran are inefficient as they lack the right skills.

Meanwhile, reformist politician Mehdi Ayati told Nameh News website in Tehran on Tuesday that the revival of the JCPOA will definitely have a positive impact on Iran's economy, but added that the agreement should facilitate Iran's ability to economically benefit from it.

In another development, Iran's nuclear Chief Mohammad Eslami said that "Iran will not accept Israel's positions as the agenda of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)." Reacting to safeguard questions raised by the IAEA and European and US negotiators' insistence on the need for Iran to respond to questions about enriched Uranium traces in several locations, Eslami said: "These accusations are not new, and Tehran has been responding to them for 20 years now." But did not say why Iran has failed to convince the IAEA.

In one of the latest developments regarding a possible agreement, Iran's Security Chief Ali Shamkhani told the press in Tehran that the Supreme Council of National Security which he heads, has had no resolution yet about the negotiations. He added that a possible agreement will be first approved by the SCNS before being put to vote at the parliament (Majles).