Anger in Iran Targets Nuclear Negotiators as Protesters and Conservatives Lash Out

Protests against the emerging Iran, United States deal erupted Saturday night in Tehran and in Mashhad in eastern Iran, with harsh slogans directed at the Iranian negotiating team, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. According to the Qatari daily Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, opponents gathered in Tehran’s main square chanting, “Araghchi, shame on you and leave the country” and “Qalibaf, Araghchi, what about the blood of our leader?”

In Mashhad, demonstrators rallied outside the Foreign Ministry building and also shouted against Araghchi. Social media accounts said there were brief confrontations in some locations between supporters and opponents of the deal.

The report said most activists and parliamentarians opposing the agreement belong to Iran’s conservative camp and are close to Saeed Jalili, the former secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Separately, Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the conservative newspaper Kayhan, published an editorial titled “A Letter to the Lords Qalibaf and Araghchi,” arguing that closing the Strait of Hormuz had already blocked the enemy’s trade and economic lifeline. He questioned the logic of giving up what he called one of Iran’s most important bargaining chips in war, and said compensation remains one of Supreme Leader’s declared demands.

Shariatmadari also asked how such compensation could be collected from the United States and its partners, and said opening the strait under the proposed framework would limit Iran’s ability to win it. The conservative Fars news agency, which is aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Trump’s insistence on signing a memorandum of understanding with Iran on Sunday was a test for the Iranian negotiating team.

Fars added that, unlike Trump’s repeated claims that the document would be signed on Sunday, Iranian officials said the understandings were not yet complete and that a signing on that date would certainly not happen. The agency said Sunday, June 14, is Trump’s birthday, and claimed he wanted to turn it into a symbolic propaganda event.