There are murmurs in Tehran that the pressure on the moderate nuclear negotiation team is rising. A hard-line figure has admitted in an interview with Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that his like-minded friends have made a string of targeted attacks against foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator Mohammad Javad Zarif and his team.
The figure, a graduate of Imam Sadeq University, which specializes in training future managers of the Islamic establishment, told Al-Monitor that he had said in a private meeting with other hard-liners that "they are stepping up pressure” over concerns that Americans are wasting time in the negotiations.