Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei has the power to at any time cancel the nuclear deal with world powers, analysts said on Oct. 25.
Yigal Carmon, the president of the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), and Ayelet Savyon, the head of the institute’s Iran desk, wrote in an analysis that Khamenei, in a letter to President Hassan Rouhani, essentially granted himself the power to void the deal.
Carmon and Savyon write that Khamenei is ultimately looking to stall implementation of the agreement in order to hurt Iran’s moderates, headed by Hashemi Rafsanjani and Rouhani, and their chances in February 2016 Majlis and Assembly of Experts elections.
The letter, which set out new conditions for Iran’s implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was posted on Khamenei’s website in Farsi on Oct. 21, tweeted from his Twitter account and posted on his Facebook page in English.
“The set of conditions laid out by Khamenei creates a situation in which not only does the Iranian side refrain from approving the JCPOA but, with nearly every point, creates a separate obstacle, such that executing the agreement is not possible,” Carmon and Savyon wrote.
After Khamenei’s letter was made public, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani and Rouhani fully accepted the supreme leader’s conditions, Savyon told The Jerusalem Post on Oct. 25.
Full article: Khamenei’s letter checks Rouhani, asserts authority over Iran nuclear deal (World Tribune)
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