People paying attention to the relationship between Iran and the United States, we tend to agree that John Kerry is a liar, but for much different reasons.
From Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei, More Anti-American Rhetoric
WSJ: Less than a week after economic sanctions against Iran were lifted as implementation of the nuclear deal began, and the U.S. and Iran exchanged prisoners, Iran’s supreme leader resumed his anti-American rhetoric. In a letter to President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the government against U.S. “deceptions” and sought to play down the significance of the nuclear agreement and its economic benefits for Iran.
The ayatollah’s tough talk fits the image he likes to project of the unwavering enemy of the world’s greatest power; but his remarks must be seen in context. Clearly, Iran’s supreme leader is not above compromises with the nation he calls the Great Satan. He allowed the nuclear negotiations to play out. His own “red lines” on these negotiations were crossed. The ayatollah supposedly barred Iranian officials from negotiating with the U.S. about anything but the nuclear issue, yet Iranian intelligence officials secretly negotiated a prisoner exchange with U.S. officials at the same time, and Iranian diplomats continue talking to their U.S. counterparts about Syria. A role for U.S. oil companies seems inevitable as Iran, released from sanctions, moves to develop its oil and gas industries.
Ayatollah Khamenei has voiced concerns about what he calls the American, or Western, “cultural onslaught.” He has warned that relations with the U.S. would have a considerable impact on Iranian society, particularly on youth.
On the economy, too, he wishes to project the image of the bulwark against the lure of Western investment or Iran’s integration into the world economy. In a tweet to his president, the supreme leader reverted to his oft-repeated theme that the Islamic Republic should rely on an “economy of resistance” and “self-sufficiency,” rather than on outsiders lifting sanctions, to achieve economic prosperity.
Here, too, reality is bound to intrude. Thirty-six years after the establishment of the Islamic Republic, Iran imports huge amounts of its food, machinery, and consumer goods, and it remains highly dependent on oil exports for earnings. The “economy of resistance” to which Iranian officials pay lip service remains beyond reach.
Ayatollah Khamenei’s attempt to retain the support of his hard-line constituency while adjusting to regional realities was evident elsewhere. Nearly three weeks after a mob ransacked and set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran, the ayatollah condemned the incident, calling it “very bad” and “detrimental to the country and Islam.” Apparently he felt the need to try to repair the damage the attack had inflicted on Iran’s relations with almost all other Arab countries. Taking his time to speak out is nothing new; it took Ayatollah Khamenei even longer to criticize the mobs who trashed the British embassy in Tehran in 2011. Still, these incidents should not be used to as an excuse to condemn “devoted, revolutionary, and [god-loving] youth,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ayatollah’s position on domestic politics has shifted very little. He gave a speech this week but said nothing about election supervisory councils disqualifying a large number of candidates, including many reformists, for parliamentary elections next month. Would-be reformers have complained that their candidates have been targeted, and President Rouhani has sharply criticized the disqualifications. “If only one faction is present in the vote, and the other is not, then why are we holding elections,” he reportedly said this week. The president has promised to take the matter up with the Council of Guardians, a 12-member body dominated by senior clerics that has final say on candidacies. The president and his supporters have been hoping the elections would give Mr. Rouhani a workable majority in parliament. Ayatollah Khamenei, while urging those opposed to the system to vote, has treated it as natural that opponents of the system should be barred from running for office. It is a mantra of Iranian hard-liners that many reformists are “seditionists” and enemies of the system.
On the other hand, the supreme leader has long regarded large-scale voter participation in elections as an important sign of the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy and acceptance by the people. After the 2009 presidential election, millions of Iranians poured into the streets, outraged that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner. Those protests shook the regime to its foundation; their shadow has hovered over subsequent elections. To ensure a large turnout and to mute controversy, Ayatollah Khamenei may yet nudge the Council of Guardians into allowing a significant number of prominent reformist candidates to run in February.
