The Iranian Interior Minister’s Foreign Policy

The Iranian Foreign Ministry’s declared objective of reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal appears at odds with the lack of progress in negotiations in Vienna. This, in part, can be attributed to very real opposition to the JCPOA in certain quarters, including Iran’s Interior Ministry.  

• June 20: “Those who put their eggs in America’s basket have no confidence in Iran’s progress. Those who do not consider America off-limits are not working for the country’s development,” Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said, according to a report by the Iranian Students’ News Agency. Although Vahidi did not specifically mention Iran’s nuclear program, his reference to “science-based development” was clear enough as was his thinly veiled opposition to the ongoing nuclear negotiations. Vahidi said, “There are certain political currents that let loose when facing the West … We must define our own developmental model.” He rhetorically asked: “Is the message of the West anything but NATO, cannons, and war in Afghanistan, Ukraine, and elsewhere?”

Conduct of foreign policy being the purview of the Foreign Ministry, the Iranian interior minister’s statements are not only remarkable but also significant, since he is a voting member of the Supreme National Security Council, the highest strategic decision-making body in the Islamic Republic. Such statements only make sense when taking into consideration Vahidi’s background as a former commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Vahidi may be representing the prevailing consensus in the IRGC rather than the Interior Ministry.  

The prevailing analysis in the IRGC appears to assume that Iran’s nuclear program is advancing fast, and the United States lacks the political will to stop it, due to its withdrawal from Afghanistan and current entanglement in Ukraine. Vahidi’s statements may also reflect the IRGC’s policy recommendation rather than the Interior Ministry’s and can be interpreted as opposition to a negotiated solution to the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program. None of this bodes well for the fate of nuclear negotiations. 

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