South Asia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Barbara Slavin interviews Iranian parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani on the Iran nuclear deal:
Ali Larijani, the powerful speaker of the Iranian parliament, praised President Barack Obama for being “wiser” than his predecessor in negotiating a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear crisis, but warned that if Obama’s successor does not fully implement the deal, Iran won’t either.
Larijani, who in a 2012 conversation with Al-Monitor had seemed indifferent to the outcome of US presidential politics, told Al-Monitor in an interview on Sept. 1 that Obama’s victory had made a difference. Even though the toughest economic sanctions against Iran were imposed during Obama’s tenure, Larijani said, “It was very wise of him to finally realize the error of his ways and decide to resolve the issue through political dialogue.”