Hardliners have expressed deep concern over what they call a ˈbig retreat from national rights enshrined in the international rules and regulations in exchange for some promisesˈ.
The critics believe that the government has put all its eggs in the basket of reaching a final nuclear deal with G5+1 (US, UK, France Russia, China plus Germany).
The hardliners say the Rouhani administration has tied the resolution of economic problems to lifting of the sanctions and a compromise with the West. This, in their opinion, is a danger to Iranˈs national security and sovereignty.
The critics who believe in the aggressive policies of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad say that moderate policies of President Rouhani have encouraged the West and in particular the US to interfere in Iranˈs internal affairs including its military and defensive programs as well as its internal cultural, judicial and political interactions.
Rajanews, a website close to former top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, wrote in an article released on July 3 that although Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in his video message released before the ongoing talks in Vienna stressed that they will observe the redlines in the negotiations but President Rouhani, by speaking about the impact of the sanctions, is undermining the Iranian side in the talks.
The hardliner website added that speaking about the impact of the sanctions will give Iranˈs partners the upper hand in the negotiations to continue imposing their ˈillegal demandsˈ on the Iranian negotiators.
The negotiating teamˈs approach is similar to its approach during the Geneva talks which led to the interim nuclear deal between Iran and G5+1, Rajanews said. It added this means that the nation should witness repetition of the Geneva ˈbad agreementˈ in Vienna.
Jahannews, another hardliner website close to Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, President Rouhaniˈs rival in 2013 presidential elections, wrote in an article on the occasion of Vienna talks that the Iranian negotiating team is not aware of the legal aspects of the text in the final nuclear deal.
The draft of the final nuclear deal is aimed at curbing Iranˈs nuclear progress and has been written in a way that the Americans can easily manipulate its weak and ambiguous points, the hardliner website said.
Jahannews advised the negotiating team to be serious in defense of nationˈs rights.
Meanwhile, Vatan Emrooz daily managed by hardliner MP Mehrdad Bazrpash wrote in an article released on July 3 that the negotiating teamˈs recent remarks show that they are getting ready for accepting restrictions beyond the rules and regulations enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The hardliner newspaper in another article published on July 5, criticized Zarifˈs recent comments on the 2005 negotiations which led to a halt in the talks under Ahmadinejad. It called the foreign ministerˈs repeated warnings about the halt of talks ˈbegging from the Americans to produce a result without considering the costsˈ.
Naser Nobari, another critic of the negotiations, in an exclusive interview with Vatan Emrooz daily tried to generalize his concerns about the outcome of the negotiations and said, ˈIt is not only the principalists but also all the political factions including the reformists and even the common Iranians who have similar concerns about the ongoing talks.ˈ
The hardliner and famous critic of the Rouhani administrationˈs moderate policies, Hossein Shariatmadari wrote in an article published on July 6 that Iran has taken nothing but some promises in exchange for the halt of its nuclear progresses, limiting its enrichment activities and eliminating its uranium stockpile.
Shariatmadari, Kayhan dailyˈs editor-in-chief, considered US Secretary of State John Kerryˈs remarks that ˈthe sanctions have not been removed and only if Tehran accepts their demands, they may gradually remove the unilateral sanctionsˈ as an evidence proving the defeat of Rouhaniˈs moderate policies towards the US.
President Rouhani on different occasions has defended his nuclear negotiating team against the so-called ˈWe Are Concernedˈ group who are critical of the administrationsˈ foreign policy.
He has assured the critics that Foreign Ministryˈs nuclear negotiating team is enough experienced and capable of defending the nationˈs rights.
Critics of President Rouhaniˈs policies particularly its foreign policy have launched a campaign known as “We Are Concerned” and have asked him on different occasions to give up his moderate policies and adopt the past policies of hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iranˈs foreign policy has taken new directions since Rouhani was elected President in 2013. Nuclear talks between Iran and the G5+1 members have gained momentum.
