Thus far, Khamenei has managed to evade direct responsibility for the nuclear deal and the Iran-IAEA roadmap. He has not taken a public position. Khamenei's Majlis and the Supreme National Security Council will consider the nuclear arrangement in the coming days, and at some point, Khamenei will decide whether to implement.
The grand irony of the circumstances engineered by Obama is that the American president has put Ayatollah Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in the position of endorsing Obama's signature foreign policy achievement. By approving the nuclear deal, Khamenei would be seen by his fellow revolutionaries as embracing the Islamic Republic's implacable foe, while a majority of Obama's own legislature repudiates the JCPOA. One would think that such a decision would shake the very ideological foundation of the 1979 Islamic Revolution to which Khamenei and his radical followers are devoted. Hence, there may still be hope for the majority in the U.S. Congress who oppose the fatally flawed nuclear deal: Perhaps the Supreme Leader will decide that he cannot turn his back on the Islamic Revolution by implementing the JCPOA.
(AP photo)
