Tehran, Iran – Iran Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s reservations about
his country’s interim peace deal with the United States have emboldened the country’s hardline political grouping, which opposes any concessions with Washington.
Iran’s new supreme leader appears to have handed responsibility for the deal over to President Masoud Pezeshkian, a relative moderate, who is now under fire from a more hardline camp that believes war with the US could restart soon.
The agreement, signed by Pezeshkian and US President Donald Trump – through mediation by Pakistan, Qatar and others – is also challenged by all political factions in Israel, who
advocate military action against Iran to weaken Tehran and its “axis of resistance” coalition, including the Hezbollah armed group in Lebanon.
Here’s a look at the internal dialogue in Iran since the memorandum of understanding was signed, and how different camps in Iran are framing it.
What did Khamenei say?
Khamenei has not been seen or heard from publicly since succeeding his father, Ali Khamenei, as supreme leader in March, but his view has been made clear on the Iran-US deal.
“I, as a matter of principle, held a different view,” a brief, written statement attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei on Thursday said, in reference to the signing of the MoU with the US.
But it said he granted his permission after “explicit acceptance of responsibility” by President Pezeshkian, as head of the Supreme National Security Council.
He “also explicitly stated that if the American side seeks to make excessive demands, they will not submit to them”, he said of Pezeshkian. The statement said that upcoming in-person negotiations “will not mean acceptance of the enemy’s position”.
Iranian state-linked media have said Khamenei also conditioned that at least three-quarters of the members of the security council, including military commanders, would have to approve the deal. Almost all members are believed to have voted in favour of the deal, but the details of the voting process are still unconfirmed.
What are the authorities saying?
The Supreme National Security Council released a statement to reassure Khamenei that it will abide by safeguarding “the rights of the Iranian nation and the resistance front” while honouring the memory of Iranian leaders killed during the war with the US.
The council will advance talks with “total distrust” towards the US and has pre-determined plans to retaliate if the other side violates any provisions, it said.
Pezeshkian called the text a “historic document and a
message from a powerful Iran that peace will be realised under the shadow of mutual respect”.
“This text reflects the voice of a nation that has not traded its dignity and independence for any threat or pressure,” he wrote on X.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator, thanked Khamenei for his “guiding and wise message” and said while the MoU consolidated gains made in the war into the negotiation process, it was only “the beginning of a difficult and winding road”.
Ghalibaf also cast himself as a “post-war economic commander” and was unusually explicit about wanting decision-making authority during the negotiations process.
“I am not someone who remains without a decision and waits around. I ask that decision-making input be prepared for me so that I can make the right decision,” he said.
Iranian authorities must now “take over the trench from the launcher crews, stand our ground, and lift the people out from under economic pressure”, the official said. This comes as the war exacerbates
Iran’s existing structural economic problems.
Why are hardliners protesting?
Supporters of Khamenei say Iranian negotiators must continue to press for control of the Strait of Hormuz and should walk out of talks if a deal does not include this.
State-backed rallies held in Iranian cities, held nightly during the war, have seen criticism of Pezeshkian, Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. These figures are considered part of the moderate camp and viewed by hardliners as most likely to offer the US concessions.
“Mr President, if the conditions set by the supreme leader are not realised, it will be us, the blade and your throat. We will make you miserable,” Mohammad Ali Bakhshi, a state-backed maddah, or lay religious eulogist, said in Shahr-e Ray, located near the capital.
Mehdi Tabatabaei, a communications official in the president’s office, demanded Bakhshi and other “suspicious elements” be prosecuted for sowing discord between Iran’s different political camps.
Some hardline MPs have demanded that the parliament, which has remained closed since the start of the war except for a handful of in-person meetings, be fully reopened so it can potentially block any deal with the US, which is harmful to Iranian interests.
“Be fair and open the parliament, my supreme leader is left alone,” Mohammad Mannan Raisi, a representative of the ultraconservative city of Qom, wrote on X.
In the holy Shia city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran, Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda, the influential Friday prayers leader and representative of the supreme leader, said, “Our fight is not over” with Washington.
“For 70 years, this system has inflicted all kinds of crimes, injustices, and merciless massacres upon us. Are we supposed to back down?! Avenging our martyred imam will not be achieved by killing one corrupt, sinful dog, polluted with every kind of wickedness. Even if they kill hundreds of such dogs, they would not be worth a single strand of hair from our martyred leader,” he said, in reference to the former supreme leader.
On Saturday morning, the first day of the working week in Iran, newspapers dedicated their front pages to the message from Khamenei and the MoU.
Some conservative dailies said the deal has been permitted by the supreme leader, but with conditions, but there is still a difficult path ahead to making peace with the US.
Reformist-minded newspaper Etemad described the memorandum of understanding as a “victory document”, showing the contrasting views between the two sides about the still unconfirmed details of the agreement with the US.
<small>Source: Al Jazeera</small>
