The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has expressed support for the speeches that Iranian President Hassan Rohani made last week to the United Nations General Assembly but he added that the conversation between the president and his U.S. counterpart should have only taken place after concrete confidence-building actions were seen from the U.S.
The Tasnim News Agency reports that IRGC chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said: “Just as a visit with Obama was declined, the telephone conversation should also have been avoided and such actions should have been kept for when the U.S. and its good faith and honesty have been put to the test.”
Jafari cited “dropping all sanctions against the people of Iran, releasing all Iranian assets that have been frozen and confiscated by the U.S., ending enmity and conspiracies against the Iranian people, accepting a nuclear Iran” as steps that the United States could have taken to build trust in its relations with Iran.
He gave a thumbs-up, however, to the actions of President Rohani and his delegation in the U.S. and referred to the telephone conversation between the two presidents as a “tactical mistake” that was not too problematic and could be corrected in time.
While some hardliners have spoken out against President Rohani’s decision to engage in a phone conversation with the U.S. president, in general the Islamic Republic establishment has been supportive of the Iranian president’s actions during his latest trip abroad.
