Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief warns against nuclear deal 'model'

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards head warned Tuesday that the nuclear deal with world powers was not a "model" and criticised "Westernised groups" in the Islamic republic.

If the nuclear accord, which came into force in January, is "portrayed as a model, that is a sign of narrow mindedness and self humiliation", General Mohammad Ali Jafari, quoted on the Guards' website, told a meeting of senior commanders.

He said that those in Iran who espoused the deal as the right path for an internal political deal were "involuntarily taking the road to counter-revolution and want to humiliate our great people".

Iran's moderate President Hassan Rouhani has repeatedly praised the accord which defused a showdown with the West as an example to be followed for striking a domestic accord on "understanding and reconciliation" in the country.

On March 20, however, Iran's supreme guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticised any such deal on the home front, without giving any names.

Jafari said "political ideas that contradict the Islamic revolution will not last... even if at a certain moment they might take control of the government and parliament".

He said "the new Westernised trend in Iran is formed by American infiltration elements" that would be defeated by the Guards and "revolutionary forces within the country".

Elections held in February, the first since the deal lifting international sanctions in return for a scaling down of Iran's nuclear programme, curbed a conservative dominance of parliament and led to advances for reformists.
Source: AFP