Iran International
Reactions in Tehran to the collapse of the Islamabad talks suggest Iran’s leadership is settling on a dual message: defiance toward Washington’s pressure while still leaving the door to diplomacy open.
Across Iran’s political spectrum—from senior officials to hardline lawmakers—the failure of the 21-hour negotiations has been framed not as the end of talks but as a moment to test leverage, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz and Washington’s newly announced naval blockade.
Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, who was part of the Iranian delegation in Islamabad, placed responsibility for the breakdown squarely on Washington while leaving room for further engagement.
In a post on X, he wrote that distrust toward the United States stems from “the experiences of the previous two wars,” adding that Washington failed to convince Tehran while leaving open whether the Americans could “earn our trust.”
President Masoud Pezeshkian struck a softer tone, signaling conditional openness to diplomacy.
“If the American government abandons its totalitarianism and respects the rights of the Iranian nation, ways to reach an agreement will certainly be found,” he wrote on X.
All about Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz—through which roughly a fifth of global oil flows—has rapidly emerged as both a bargaining chip and a symbolic red line in Tehran’s messaging.
President Donald Trump announced a US naval blockade aimed at preventing vessels from entering or leaving Iranian ports and intercepting ships that pay transit fees to Tehran.
US Central Command said the blockade would begin Monday and apply to vessels of all nations calling at Iranian ports.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy warned that any escalation in the waterway could have severe consequences, cautioning that “any miscalculation will trap the enemy in deadly whirlpools in the strait.”
Hardline voices have increasingly framed control of the waterway as a source of revenue and national prestige.
“From now on… we will have a third source of income called the Strait of Hormuz,” lawmaker Amir-Hossein Sabeti said at a pro-government rally.
University professor and commentator Foad Izadi suggested in a post on X that future confrontation could transform the strait into Iran’s “most important source of income,” while hinting that alternative export routes could become targets.
‘Taboo broken’
Some Iranian analysts warn that the US blockade risks pushing both sides closer to military confrontation.
Political analyst Ruhollah Rahimpour described the move as “beating the drums of war,” arguing that Washington is effectively testing Iran’s economic lifeline.
“Iran’s economy is locked into the chokepoint of Hormuz, and now Trump has decided to test this lock with a hammer,” he said. “In such a situation, either the lock opens, or the whole door will be torn off.”
Reformist voices, however, emphasized the historic nature of the talks themselves.
Former lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi described the direct engagement as “a major taboo-breaking moment,” noting the significance of Iranian and American officials meeting at such a level after nearly half a century.
Journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi similarly argued that failure in Islamabad “does not mean a definite failure of diplomacy,” warning that a return to full-scale war would produce an “irreversible catastrophe for all parties.”
Former Vice President Mohammad-Ali Abtahi also struck a cautious tone, writing that “47 years of open hostility cannot be resolved in a few hours.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.