Friday Prayers across Iran: Slamming (anti-)Iran Sanctions Act

(Ayatollah Movahhedi Kermani performing Friday prayers in Tehran. Source: Arash Mirsepasi/YJC)

The US’ Senate’s unanimous vote for extension of Iran Sanctions Act for another period of ten years also received angry responses from Friday prayers’ leaders across Iran. “United States’ hostility is nothing unexpected” said Ayatollah Movahhedi Kermani in his sermon in Tehran. “If you [Americans] want to tear the JCPOA, we, as our Supreme Leader said, will burn it before you” he maintained, calling Americans unreliable. “The enemy showed its weakness and impotence with extension of sanctions” said Mojtaba Mirdamadi, Friday prayers’ imam in Isfahan, central Iran. “[They] should now that we will never surrender to their browbeating” he told his congregation. “We will never let the enemy see its dream of Iran’s return to pre-Revolution years come true.”

Also in Qom, Ayatollah Alireza A’rafi, Friday prayers’ leader of the week, reminded that JCPOA is an international treaty, and Washington’s extension of sanctions is a violation of the treaty. A’rafi warned the ‘enemy’, i.e. the United States, that “their renege on [JCPOA] promises will be remembered and the Muslim World will one day respond to this with a decisive blow.” “The most bitter think in JCPOA is that we have fully realized our commitments, but witness that the JCPOA not only has had no achievements for the country, but also brought triumph for the other side" said Mohammad-Naghi Lotfi, Friday prayers’ leader in the western city of Ilam. “Retreat against such renege on promises only makes the other side more assertive” he added. In Qazvin, Abdolkarim Abedini minced no words in criticizing the government. Abedini scolded the government for its optimism about US’ good will during the nuclear talks. “With negotiations, we achieved nothing but were humiliated” he said. “Officials should learn a lesson from the futile negotiations that they initiated and the loss they inflicted upon the nation.”

Criticism of Hassan Rouhani’s government for its misconducts was another theme of this week’s sermons across Iran. In Tehran, Movahhedi Kermani called resignation of Mohsen Pour-Seyyed-Aghaei, managing director of national railways company “surprising”, questioning the rationale behind his decision. Pour-Seyyed-Aghaei stepped aside last week after a deadly train clash near the city of Semnan, northeastern Iran, in which 45 passengers lost their lives. “If you were guilty, then you should be dismissed and tried. If you were not guilty, then why did you resign?” Movahhedi Kermani asked, calling the resignation ‘an imitation of ‘foreigners’’. Tehran’s Friday prayers expressed his dissatisfaction while Iranian officials have been frequently criticized by the public for their refusal to resign for their misconducts.

Movahhedi Kermani also touched on the ‘astronomical salaries’ scandal, the controversial case of whopping salaries and perks paid to a number of high-ranking officials in state-run banking and insurance institutes. He asked the reason for the government’s delay in releasing a report on the case. “Iran is an Islamic Republic, run by the rule of Quran. How are those salaries compatible with [Islamic] justice?” he complained. In Qazvin, alluding to Rouhani’s recent remark which had called cancellation of Deputy Majles’ Speaker Ali Motahhari’s speech in Mashhad a “cause of embarrassment”, Abdolkarim Abedini said that the government should be instead ashamed for “economic recession, neglecting ‘resistance economy’ and oil contracts which serve the interests of Imperialism.”