Iran International
A senior cleric’s claim that Iran’s Supreme Leader endorsed new indirect talks with Washington has raised questions about divisions in Tehran, after Ali Khamenei himself appeared to rule out negotiations in a recent speech.
“The principle of negotiation, even in an indirect form with the United States, was endorsed by the Leader after the war,” said Abdolhossein Khosropanah, Secretary of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution.
Days earlier, on August 24, Khamenei had struck a very different tone, eschewing talks and accusing Washington of seeking Iran’s “surrender.”
The veteran theocrat called the standoff over Tehran's nuclear program “unsolvable” and vowed the Islamic Republic would never bow to US pressure.
Khosropanah’s apparently conflicting citation surprised many. “Why would an official from a cultural body comment on national security?” analyst Damoon Mohammadi told Iran International.
Khamenei, he suggested, may have deliberately floated the idea through an unlikely figure to test domestic reaction.
The contrasting statements underscore intensifying infighting over Iran’s future course.
With the stakes raised by the 12-day war with Israel and the looming prospect of UN sanctions snapping back, Tehran’s factions are split between those urging pragmatic engagement and hardliners who insist any compromise would mean capitulation.
Moderates push diplomacy
President Masoud Pezeshkian has hinted at cautious engagement, despite heavy criticism at home.
Meeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in China, he said Iran was ready for indirect dialogue with Washington so long as its nuclear rights were recognized.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei echoed that line, saying Tehran would reinstate IAEA inspections and reduce enrichment to 3.67% if its sovereign right to enrichment were respected.
Hardliners resist
Former negotiator Saeed Jalili remains fiercely opposed, likening pro-diplomacy figures in early August to the Israelites who worshipped the golden calf in Moses’ absence—a possible jab at officials emboldened by Khamenei’s limited public appearances since the war.
Ultra-conservative commentator Mohammadsadegh Shahbazi wrote on X: “There are options beyond negotiation. International structures can be challenged. We must show that Europe and America are not our only paths.”
Washington unmoved
Despite the rhetoric, officials acknowledge Washington has shown no interest in talks. Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told Iranian media managers in a closed-door meeting Saturday—according to information obtained by Iran International—that the White House had ignored Tehran’s outreach.
Another deputy, Kazem Gharibabadi, reportedly disclosed last week: “We have sent messages to Washington 15 times in different ways to restart the negotiations, but we have not received any response.”
The last round, mediated by Oman, collapsed when the US demanded Iran curb enrichment on its own soil—a demand Khamenei branded a red line. With diplomacy stalled, Israel struck Iranian sites, triggering the 12-day war.
