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Return of Iran's Strategic Council might constrain Rouhani

The revival of a foreign policy council could signal that Iran's supreme leader is attempting to temper ideas of warmer relations with the West, especially after the nuclear deal.
Iran's chief negotiator Saeed Jalili attends a news conference at the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul May 16, 2013. Iran is prepared to pursue nuclear diplomacy with world powers before or after next month's presidential election in the Islamic Republic, its chief negotiator said on Thursday.  REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTXZOPK

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has revived the Strategic Council for Foreign Policy, a body he created in 2006 that has been largely dormant in recent years, in a possible effort to present a counterweight to some of President Hassan Rouhani’s pro-Western orientations.

A recent decree issued by Khamenei’s office, replacing three out of five council members and adding a sixth, gives prominence to former senior officials under former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, including Saeed Jalili, the former nuclear negotiator and the supreme leader’s representative to the National Security Council.

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