Aftermath of Iran Nuclear Deal - North Korea

Tehran is a city that wears its political colors on its sleeve. The sprawling Iranian capital nestles between barren mountain ranges, its streets packed with high rises, leafy parks and markets.

A major boulevard slices through the metropolis, from the working class south to the more affluent north; a journey along this road highlights the many political views of its population.

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Vicious infighting has raged here since Iranian President Hassan Rouhani signed a landmark nuclear agreement with the West; moderates rally around Rouhani, calling for more political freedom, while hardliners and clerics lament the country’s “softer” international stance.

But US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks on Iran have infuriated Iranians across the political spectrum — regime officials say they have forced the heavily politicized society to close ranks. The country’s conservatives are saying “I told you so,” while moderates express disappointment at the hard line taken by Trump.

On Friday, after weeks of rhetoric, the US President announced plans to decertify the country’s landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — better known as the Iran nuclear deal — that had eased the country’s isolation since 2013.

Trump also labeled Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) a “corrupt terror force.”

And — perhaps most controversially of all — he called the body of water separating Iran from its Arab arch-rivals the “Arabian Gulf” instead of the “Persian Gulf,” hitting a nerve in this divided, and diverse city.

The walls here are plastered with Islamic art and portraits of the country’s slain soldiers — but men and women (many of whom wear the mandatory headscarf loosely, a sign of their reformist views) mingle freely in cafes, and downtown an arts scene is flourishing, fueled by the city’s liberal youth.

Trump has done us a great service’

In a dark room lined with religious texts and newspaper clippings, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei beams.

“Contrary to what other people think, I don’t think Trump is against Iran,” Hossein Shariatmadari tells CNN in his office at the headquarters of the country’s ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper.

“In fact, Trump has done us a great service. It would have cost us a lot to show that the domestic divisions are beneficial to the United States. Trump did this for us.

“The result is that we have reached more cohesion and unity amongst ourselves,” says Shariatmadari, who identifies himself as the “Supreme Leader’s Representative.”

The US president’s remarks, he says, showed America’s “true face,” explaining that the prospect of sanctions will allow Iran to return to the so-called “resistance economy,” a self-sufficient economic system long-touted by the regime’s leaders.

As staunch rivals of President Hassan Rouhani, who sealed the Iran deal during his first term in office, hardliners such as Shariatmadari are fervent critics of the JCPOA.

“Trump’s major problem with us is our influence in the region, not our nuclear program,” says Shariatmadari, dismissing Trump’s remarks as “a ploy to stop Iran’s regional activities.”

CNN