Iranian hardliners protest against emerging deal with US

Iranian hardliners on Saturday staged protest rallies in Tehran and Mashhad against an emerging agreement with the United States, accusing Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi of compromising with Washington and branding him an infiltrator, Iran International reported.

The protesters attacked the draft agreement and Araghchi’s public messaging around it, warning that the reported terms involved deeper concessions than officials had acknowledged. They also said no understanding with Washington would be valid without the approval of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

The backlash comes after months in which Iran’s hardline camp has pressed for a more confrontational nuclear posture. Media reported earlier this year that the idea of leaving the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, long threatened by Iranian hardliners, had been aired increasingly in state media alongside calls for Tehran to pursue a nuclear weapon outright.

Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, earlier this year published an article arguing that Iran should withdraw from the NPT as soon as possible while maintaining a civilian nuclear program. Hardline politician Mohammad Javad Larijani was also quoted by state media as saying Iran should suspend its membership.

“The NPT should be suspended. We should form a committee to assess whether the NPT is of any use to us at all. If it proves useful, we will return to it. If not, they can keep it,” Larijani said.

Media also reported that nuclear policy had become a subject of private debate within Iran’s ruling circles, with divisions between harder-line elements, including the Guards, and parts of the political hierarchy over how far Tehran should go. Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened to reconsider NPT membership during more than two decades of negotiations with the West, without following through.