Iranian hard-liners have piled pressure on President Hassan Rouhani's administration in recent weeks, especially on Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who led Iran’s nuclear negotiating team. After the recent move by the US Congress to renew sanctions on Iran, one prominent Iranian extremist went so far as to call Zarif an American spy.
The US House of Representatives voted to renew the Iran Sanctions Act on Nov. 15, and the Senate approved a 10-year extension of the act on Dec. 1. President Barack Obama is expected to approve the measure. Iranian politicians and lawmakers have in past days argued that the extension of US sanctions violates the July 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In this vein, Rouhani, in a Dec. 4 address before the Iranian parliament, condemned the US renewal of the Iran Sanctions Act.
On Dec. 3, Hossein Allahkaram, the head of the coordination council of Ansar-e Hezbollah, a semi-official paramilitary organization, alluded to Iran’s foreign minister being a US spy. On his official Instagram page, Allahkaram wrote, “Some believe that [Zarif’s] exceptional ties with American intelligence entities are undeniable. … Reuters had reported that the phone numbers of American politicians and intelligence officials, such as [Vice President] Joe Biden and [former Secretary of Defense] Chuck Hagel, are saved in Zarif’s cellphone, which [Zarif] hurriedly denied.” Allahkaram’s post continued, “Interestingly, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, in a secret meeting with a high-ranking [Iranian] official, said that ‘according to our information, Zarif is an American agent.’”
Though the reasons for what happened next remain unclear — with some speculating that the Office of the Supreme Leader directly chastised Allahkaram — he subsequently did a U-turn and edited the Instagram post to remove the espionage allegation against Zarif and apologized for “any misunderstanding [he] might have caused.” Yet a screenshot of his original post was widely shared by Iranian social media users, especially on Twitter. One user tweeted, “Is it not a crime to [falsely] accuse [the] FM? Mr. Prosecutor, you have again showed favoritism.”
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