David Ignatius: Hardliners In Iran Furious That Ghalibaf Even Met With The Americans
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius told MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” that hardliners in Iran are furious that Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf even met with J.D. Vance
JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC: Let’s talk about the dynamics, just so Americans, as they’re looking at the news, are not just thinking about, Oh, Donald Trump is under pressure because gas may go to $ 4 a gallon. The pressure that Iranians face-going back-who is the first person in Iran that comes back from Islamabad and says, Yes, I think it’s a good idea for us to make a deal with the Americans? Who is willing to say that to the toughest leader in the Revolutionary Guard? DAVID IGNATIUS, THE WASHINGTON POST: So, you raise what I think is going to be the key issue over the next week or so, which is the Iranian internal debate. The United States has put on the table a very broad and, in some ways, attractive economic package. That would mean a lot of money for Iran. It would mean a promise of American assistance in rebuilding Iran after the war. But I am told by people in touch with sources in Tehran that already there is sharp criticism of Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the House speaker who met with J.D. Vance, for even sitting down and talking about this kind of cooperation with the United States. He’s being accused of corruption, of selling out the revolution-the very thing that you fear, Joe-that the hardliners are out to get him. And we’ll see whether he has the toughness and the political support to be able to resist that.
