Friday Prayers across Iran: Iran’s frozen assets and the JCPOA

(Ahmad Khatami, this week's Friday prayer7s leader, trading compliments with Movahhedi Kermani, another sermonizer of Tehran's Friday prayers. Photo: Arash Mirsepasi/YJC)

This week, the recent verdict by the US Supreme Court to freeze 2 billion dollars of Iranian assets in American banks to pay as compensation to families of 1983 Beirut victims was the major issue discussed by sermonizers across Iran.

In Tehran, Ahmad Khatami slammed Washington for its "banditry" and "looting" two billion dollars of Iranian people's money. Khatami stated that such a decision proves how the US is unreliable and reneges on its promises. "This blatant banditry is against all international rules and regulations," Khatami added. "It means that negotiations with the United States have not brought them sanity … only resistance can respond to such brutalities."

In Semnan, northeastern Iran, Hojjatoleslam Ahmadpanahi also called Supreme Court's decision an example of "international theft", calling it a clear violation of the JCPOA, while i8n Hamedan, Friday prayers' leader Ayatollah Mohammadi called the verdict "preposterous", saying that it reveals the real face of Americans and their hostility towards the Iranian nation. Also in Qom, heart of Iran's Shia seminaries, Ayatollah Hosseini Boushehri called the three branches of the state to do whatever in their power to stand against "this blatant violation" and preserve the rights of the Iranian nation.

In Tabriz, northwestern Iran, Ayatollah Shabestari also slammed freeze of Iranian assets by the United States, calling it "an intolerable insolence" that will not be forgiven by the Iranian nation. "If the government fails to take the issue seriously, a similar fate may await other Iranian assets," he warned.

In Mashhad, Ayatollah Alamolhoda used economic woes of the country as the platform to criticize the nuclear deal. "You saw how two years of efforts by our dear ones … remained futile," he said. "JCPOA has borne no fruits and this proves politics is not the solution to our problems. It is wrong to this that détente can solve our problems." Meanwhile in Tehran, Ahmad Khatami took a milder tone, calling for 'moderation' in analyzing the consequences of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "No issue has been divisive as JCPOA since the revolution," he said. "Some call the critics of JCPOA 'Zionists' while some view it as an absolute failure." He assured the audience that no such things will happen as long as Iran has a leader as vigilant as Ayatollah Khamenei.