Iran faces ‘excessive’ demands in nuclear deal: prayer leader

Iran will accept a nuclear deal with global powers only if sanctions are lifted immediately, frozen revenues are returned and the Islamic Republic’s revolutionary ideals are preserved, a senior cleric told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran.

Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani added that some of the countries with whom the accord was signed were untrustworthy and had made excessive demands that were an “insult,” adding he had heard private, unofficial reports that some of the terms set by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had not been met.

Under the deal agreed on Tuesday, sanctions will be gradually removed in return for Iran accepting long-term curbs on a nuclear program that the West has suspected was aimed at creating a nuclear bomb. Iran says its nuclear work is for civilian purposes.

“Iranians should accept a deal only if our rights and all the red lines are preserved and the Islamic Revolution’s ideals, especially the fight against global arrogance, are not put aside and forgotten. All cruel sanctions should be lifted immediately, all blocked revenues should be released and no damage should be done to our Islamic and national pride,” Kermani said in an address broadcast on radio.

Kermani also praised Iran’s negotiators for their work in the marathon talks in Vienna, saying Tehran’s negotiating partners had been forced to retreat.

“With the wise efforts of the honorable president and the untiring efforts and strong logic of the negotiating team in the negotiating arena, the opposite side was forced to retreat and accept just speech and acknowledge the rights of Iranians.”

“Israel and its allies, especially Saudi Arabia, are extremely unhappy about this deal, and this is the best proof to show how valuable the deal is. As Iran’s martyred cleric, Beheshti, used to say, ‘Let them be angry and die from their anger’.”