NCRI – The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei on February 16th appeared in public to meet the people of East Azerbaijan. His speech was actually a sort of confession of the international pressures as well as the fear of social discontent. He tried to blame Hassan Rouhani for the current critical economic condition.
Khamenei stated that Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has eliminated the risk of military war and by that he tried to deduce the significance of Iran Nuclear Deal as a way to cover “the real war”. He stated:”the European authority says to our officials that the war would have been imminent in Iran if the Nuclear Deal had not been signed. This is a blatant lie! Why do they say “war”? In order to distract the minds from the real war! The real war includes economic battles, sanctions and extorting the work and technology of the country. The real war is of the cultural sort.”
Ali Khamenei then admitted to the critical economic situation, blaming Hassan Rouhani. He stated:”the authorities should show what they have done instead of saying this happened and that occurred. The high cost of living, unemployment, and recession are crucial issues. Today the enemy intends to place pressure on the economy of the country so that people face problems and become discouraged towards the regime. The people are complaining about discriminations, slacks, and negligence to problems.”
The Supreme Leader raised the issue of national reconciliation and stated: “some people talk about the “national reconciliation”. This makes no sense. Why do you say “reconciliation”? Are the people in break-up with each other? Yes, they are in a sulk with those who stepped out into the streets in Ashura Day (the uprising of 2009), attacking Basijis (regime’s militia forces). The people will never reconcile with them.”
It is noteworthy that defying Khamenei, Tajzadeh, a so called reformist element said: One reason for the importance of national reconciliation is the current international situation, especially now that Trump is in white house, there are things that threaten us, and their elimination requires the cooperation and coordination of all forces, because it appears that Trump is seeking an excuse to settle accounts with Iran.
He added: In order to prevent new problems, we need major overhauls in different fields that need national unity and none of the factions alone can carry this big burden … Accordingly, “national unity” has no meaning unless political forces recognize each other.