🔸Following reactions to a controversial bill in Majles, aimed at “countering influence” in the country, Majid Ansari, legal deputy to Masoud Pezeshkian, the president, said that the Cabinet has informed the Islamic Consultative Assembly of its “explicit” opposition to the “bill to counter the influence of intelligence services of governments and foreign entities.”

🔸Ansari said: “This bill is incompatible with multiple principles of the Constitution in the area of citizens’ rights.”

🔸The general approval of a bill in the Islamic Consultative Assembly titled “Countering the influence of intelligence services and governments or foreign entities” has faced negative reactions inside Iran, with many describing it not as a measure to address so-called “influence,” but rather as a platform for further restricting citizens.

🔸Under the bill, whose general provisions were approved on Mordad 25, interviews and any kind of communication with media outlets abroad that the government calls “hostile” will be banned.

🔸In the first government reaction to the bill—which has not yet been approved—Ansari said on Wednesday that “there are fundamental problems in the provisions of this bill and its various articles,” and therefore “the government’s official position is opposition to this bill.”

🔸Majid Ansari, who is also a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, explained the government’s opposition by saying: “This bill is incompatible with multiple principles of the Constitution in the area of citizens’ rights, the people’s fundamental rights and individual freedoms; on the other hand, it has fundamental incompatibilities with the general policies issued by the late Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution [Ali Khamenei], particularly the general policies on legislation, and in some cases it is also contrary to Islamic rules.”