After the April 2 Lausanne nuclear framework announcement, Iranian analysts, academics and political figures participated in panel discussions designed as public debates to discuss the deal. One of the more heated debates, which was shared widely on social media, pitted Tehran professor Sadegh Zibakalam against hard-line Iranian MP Hamid Rasaei.

Zibakalam, while not a nuclear expert (who admittedly did not even read the Lausanne statement), raised questions that many other analysts and journalists haven't approached. During the April 6 debate, he criticized both the costs Iran has paid for its nuclear program and questioned Iran’s policy toward Israel.

On the nuclear program, Zibakalam said that he once asked nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi, “Assume in 20 or 30 years your grandchild asks you if that terrible cost that you and your generation paid for the nuclear [program], if you would have spent this on the water of the country, for agriculture, would not the Iranian people be better off?" Slamming his hands on the table, he said: “My argument with Mr. Rasaei is here. With every fiber of my being, I believe that you did not have permission to throw the wealth of the nation into the nuclear well. You did not have permission. Why didn’t the parliament interfere in the nuclear work? Which representative from parliament came to interfere in the nuclear program?” By interfere, Zibakalam meant to question the nuclear program's merits. However, most of the conservative dominant parliament supports the nuclear program and is cautious about a deal.

Turning to journalists at the debate, Zibakalam said: “Brothers and sisters, you are reporters. How many people work for the Atomic Energy Organization? 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 people? What is its budget? ... Who should answer for this? This is what the fight is over. Does anyone know how much we spend directly and indirectly for the nuclear [program]?”