Khamenei’s MoU stance stirs debate as Iran and US meet in Switzerland

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Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi led the Iranian delegation in Sunday’s high-level talks mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, with Vice President JD Vance heading the US team. But back in Tehran, opponents of the deal continued to argue about Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s reluctant stance on the MoU. “I, as a matter of principle, held a different view,” said a short written statement attributed to Khamenei on Thursday, in what has been his only public reaction to this week’s MoU with the US. But, he added, he approved it after President Masoud Pezeshkian accepted responsibility. On Sunday, the director general of the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN), the main news channel of state television, resigned after the station broadcast a live interview with Mahmoud Nabavian, a hardline cleric, legislator and member of Iran’s negotiating team during an earlier round of talks in Pakistan in April. To rally backing for his opposition to the MoU, Nabavian read lines from what he claimed was correspondence between Khamenei and unnamed top officials in the Supreme National Security Council in March and April. Nabavian claimed the supreme leader was opposed to the ceasefire that started on April 8 since he wanted immediate enforcement of a tolling system for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and demanded “exclusive management” of the strategic waterway for Iran. Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard from publicly since becoming supreme leader in March, allegedly also wanted war reparations, the release of frozen assets and an absolute rejection of concessions over Iran’s nuclear programme. The interview with Nabavian ran for 11 minutes before being abruptly ended by the host. It could not be found in IRINN’s online archive on Sunday. Pezeshkian has called the text of the MoU a “historic document” that “reflects the voice of a nation that has not traded its dignity and independence for any threat or pressure”. The Supreme National Security Council released a statement saying it will safeguard “the rights of the Iranian nation and the resistance front”, while honouring the memory of leaders killed in the war. Khamenei’s father and former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the joint US-Israeli air attacks on February 28 . Multiple political figures, including Tehran’s hardline Mayor Alireza Zakani, as well as state-linked media have attested in recent days that almost all members of the Supreme National Security Council, including military commanders, voted in favour of the MoU. Saeed Jalili, the ultra-hardline former chief negotiator and failed presidential candidate, is the only person said to have voted against the deal, which has offered some respite to global markets affected by the Strait of Hormuz disruption. Amir Hossein Sabeti, a hardline MP close to Jalili, told a gathering in Tehran on Saturday night that Pezeshkian, his ministers and Ghalibaf voted yes, while Jalili voted no since he believes Iran’s “national interests” are not realised through the deal. Sabeti said hawkish politicians are demanding answers from the government about the MoU since its first provision, which emphasised cessation of military hostilities on all fronts, including in Lebanon, is being repeatedly violated by Israel. On Saturday, Iran’s joint military command said the Strait of Hormuz was closed again because of Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon, but the US military said the waterway remained open to all vessels. Iran’s ministry of foreign affairs stressed on Sunday that the first priority in Switzerland will be to ensure enforcement of the deal, especially in Lebanon, before technical talks can proceed towards potentially achieving a long-term resolution over the coming months. Nevertheless, anti-deal factions in Iran are utilising their broad access to state media as a weapon against any negotiations with the US. On Be Vaght-e Iran, a wartime state TV programme, said that along with the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport must be closed to prevent Iranian negotiators leaving the country for talks with the “enemy”. Kian Abdollahi, the editor-in-chief of the Tasnim news agency linked with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said it was a “mistake” to send a large delegation to Switzerland while the MoU is not being enforced. “We are facing a time equation, and we can’t lose this time. Let’s say after 30 days, we act very revolutionary and bombard Israel with missiles. Then we will have lost a very important factor. The other side’s aim is only to offload some pressure over the Strait of Hormuz,” he said during a video interview. The government also appears to have been at odds with more hardline elements within the political establishment about the night-time gatherings of state supporters on the streets. Such rallies have repeatedly been used to project messaging against any deal with the US since the start of the war. Tehran lawmaker Ali Khezrian told state TV on Saturday that the strategic planning arm of the president’s office has adopted a document that delineates the rallies as “excitable rituals” that are contributing to “blocking diplomacy”. “These are the same people that have kept me and the likes of the people who wrote the government text in power,” he said, criticising the government for seeking an end to the rallies, which have been accompanied by armed motorcades and roadblocks, as well as loud religious music blasting from truck-mounted speakers. 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