President Hassan Rouhani held a press conference Jan. 17 to mark the first anniversary of the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Responding to a question about Iran’s response to US President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to either scrap the nuclear deal or renegotiate it, Rouhani said, “[Holding] new negotiations is meaningless,” adding, “There will be no [new] negotiations on the JCPOA.”

Rouhani continued, “Mr. Trump has not expressed satisfaction with the Iran nuclear deal so far and has said the deal is not a good deal. … These claims are nothing but a slogan.” Stressing that the accord is multilateral and involves six world powers and Iran, Rouhani said, “The JCPOA is not something that someone in another country, following his election as president, decides whether he likes or dislikes it. The JCPOA has created a new global environment and it should be taken care of with prudence. It is a win-win deal.”

Meanwhile, Ali Akbar Nategh-Nuri is turning into the new target of Iranian hard-liners following the death of moderate Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was the leader of the moderation camp.

Nategh-Nuri is a moderate politician and a figure respected by both Reformists and conservatives. In the 2005 presidential election, he had the responsibility of mobilizing the conservatives and forging a coalition ahead of the voting. However, despite his efforts, none of the conservative candidates — including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then mayor of Tehran, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the current mayor — heeded the coalition's final decision asking all nominees to withdraw in favor of Ali Larijani, the current speaker of parliament. Afterward, Nategh-Nuri gradually left the leadership of the conservative camp.