Iran seeks peace and dialogue with the world, President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday in guarded remarks which contrast with his endorsement the previous day of Ali Khamenei's opposition to talks with US President Donald Trump.
"Global peace and security can only be realized through connection, friendship, and sincerity—not through aggression, murder, massacres, expulsion, or discrimination. We must create a foundation for human interaction," said Pezeshkian, a relative moderate.
The remarks at a tourism exposition in Tehran referenced the devastation of Gaza in a 15-month incursion by Israel, which is backed by Iran's arch-foe the United States.
"We are not the ones seeking war. We are brothers with our neighbors, and we approach the world with dialogue and peace. It is those who wield power, stockpile weapons of mass destruction, and fuel wars and bloodshed—not us.”
His comments came one day after he threw his weight behind Khamenei's opposition to dialogue with the United States, saying the Supreme Leader "has the final say" on negotiations.
Pezeshkian's speech followed a wave of critical statements from Iranian officials against the idea of US talks after Trump mooted a deal over Iran's disputed nuclear program but reimposed harsh sanctions from his first term.
Earlier this month, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei made ambivalent comments about the prospect of negotiations, which initially pleased Pezeshkian’s supporters.
But after some hardliners doubled down on their opposition, Khamenei expressly rejected the idea, saying talks "would not be wise, intelligent or honorable".
His criticism of talks set the stage for a renewed political battle within Iran, pitting hardliners against Pezeshkian’s government and its reform-minded allies who see dialogue with the US as the key to lift sanctions which have marred Iran's economy.
The tough stance of the Supreme Leader, the ultimate decision-maker on matters of state, was echoed by hardline media outlets linked to the clerical-military establishment who saw in the president's reticence an endorsement of Khamenei.
Hossein Shariatmadari, the firebrand editor of Kayhan newspaper, praised a similarly non-committal speech by Pezeshkian at a rally earlier this week commemorating Iran's Islamic Revolution.
"One of the outstanding features of this year's rallies was the intelligent and defiant speech by Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian, our esteemed President."
An editorial in Javan praised the address, highlighting not only his nearly 20 references to Khamenei’s leadership and his words as the final authority but also his clarification that “the US is not truly seeking negotiations in the first place, making the debate over whether to negotiate with Trump irrelevant.”
But Jomhouri-e Eslami, a conservative Iranian newspaper, ran an editorial criticizing the silencing of those who opposed Khamenei’s stance on negotiations.
According to the Constitution, the paper argued, individuals have the right to express opinions freely even if they disagree with the Supreme Leader.
"The people's right to express their opinions does not contradict the rights of the Leader, and it should not be assumed that just because the Leader holds a view on a particular issue, no one else has the right to express their own opinion on the matter," wrote Masih Mohajeri, the editor.
Opponents of talks, he continued, “allow themselves to deny the most fundamental Islamic and human rights of the people and label those who seek to express their opinions on various issues as traitors, ignorant, or agents of foreign powers.”