A Tehran-based pro-reform newspaper called on president to take concrete steps toward negotiations with the United States, arguing that rhetoric alone will not resolve Iran’s economic crisis.
Responding to Masoud Pezeshkian’s remarks on Thursday saing,"We will not bow to bullies. We should not fear what they plan to do with sanctions. Some say we have no choice but to negotiate"—the reformist daily Ham Mihan questioned his approach.
"You say you don't shy away from dialogue—so why not put the ball in the opponent’s court?" the editorial argued. It urged the president to work toward halting the Trump administration's escalating sanctions, establish a negotiation agenda, and set a clear timeframe for talks.
The newspaper dismissed the notion that negotiating with the US equates to surrender, writing, "If they [the US] act like bullies and demand more than they offer, then inform the people and reject their terms. Otherwise, negotiations will yield results. Those who argue that we have no choice but to negotiate are not advocating surrender—because surrender requires no negotiation."
The debate over talks with the United States comes as Iran faces increasing economic pressure. In February, US President Donald Trump reinstated sanctions under his “maximum pressure” policy, calling for a deal that would permanently prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
More recently, Trump signed a directive aiming to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero, arguing that Tehran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and must make a deal.
"I would prefer a deal with Tehran to an Israeli attack on their nuclear sites," he said after signing the memorandum that reinstated the sanctions.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has dismissed engagement with Trump, calling negotiations "not wise, expedient, or dignified."
Beyond foreign policy, Ham Mihan also examined Pezeshkian’s economic promises, particularly his statement that "If shares are to be allocated, they should go to those truly in need, not to the wealthy."
These are good words, wrote Ham-Mihan. “So why hasn’t it been implemented? You have repeated it several times already. Moreover, your proposed national budget contradicts this notion of justice. You have increased salaries at half the rate of inflation.”
On Pezeshkian’s comments that "we are not afraid; we will stay and build the country with strength," Ham Mihan argued that fear is sometimes necessary.
"People are afraid. Officials should also be afraid. We should fear the people becoming angry. We should fear that some are unable to secure a dignified life... We should fear being unable to provide water and electricity for the people, leading to factory closures and even government shutdowns."
Iran continues to struggle with mounting economic and social crises, exacerbated by years of sanctions, government mismanagement, and public unrest. The 2022 protests, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody, evolved into broader demonstrations against political repression and economic hardship. The government’s crackdown further eroded trust in state institutions.
The national currency has suffered a dramatic collapse, with the rial recently surpassing 940,000 per US dollar. Inflation remains persistently high, driving up the cost of food, housing, and healthcare. Energy shortages have worsened the crisis, with rolling blackouts disrupting industries and daily life.
The editorial concluded by warning Pezeshkian that rhetoric alone will not satisfy public expectations: " Let us fear that people pin their hopes on us, only for us to disappoint them and make them turn away. In fact, more than anything, we are in need of fear."
“The Palestinians become pawns,” said Schwartz, “particularly by the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
According to Schwartz, the plight of the Palestinians serves the interests of the clerical rulers of Iran as a geopolitical tool in its broader quest for regional dominance.
"It's a regional problem," said Schwartz.
Since the inception of the Islamic Republic, the leader of the revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, coined the term "little Satan" to refer to Israel and "big Satan" to reference the United States.
Iran’s clerical rulers have pledged to destroy Israel for more than four decades. The country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei often appears in public wearing a black-and-white checkered kaffiyeh to symbolize Palestinians.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas militants, Iran’s fingerprints are seemingly everywhere as the Middle East has descended into turmoil.
Hezbollah in Lebanon, the armed Houthi movement in Yemen and Iraqi militias - all equipped and trained by Tehran - have taken shots at Israel with missiles and drones.
The Wall Street Journal, citing a Hamas source, reported on Oct 8, 2023, that Iran helped plot the attack, with the greenlight being given in Beirut during a meeting.
US intelligence, however, suggests that the attack came as a surprise to Iran.
While it’s not clear if Tehran coordinated the exact timing of the attack, what is certain is Iran has funded, trained and armed Hamas for decades. Iran has provided $100 million annually to Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, according to the US State Department in 2020.
"That money didn't go to improving the lives of the people of Gaza - the opposite, and went to building their vast tunnel network to building up their rockets and their weapons," said Schwartz.
The Hamas-Iran relationship: a paradox
The Shia-led theocracy in Iran and Sunni-led Hamas in Gaza adhere to diverging creed but have a common enemy in Israel.
Their ardor is fueled by extremism driving both sides of the conflict, Schwartz said.
"There is extremism on both sides. There are extremists on the Jewish side as well. There are Jewish extremists in the West Bank who are attacking Palestinians in the West Bank, and there's no excuse for that," said Schwartz.
"People often forget that the name of Hamas means the Islamic Resistance Movement," she added "this weaponization of Islam is only hurting the Palestinian people and making the prospects for peace ever more distant."
As the conflict drags on, Schwartz observes a shift within Israeli society, particularly in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks.
"Many of the Jews who were killed and kidnapped on Oct. 7 were left wing Israelis. Many of them were peace activists. And as we've seen over the course of the last 16 months, many in Israel have shifted rightward," Schwartz said.
That shift has a historical parallel in the 1929 Hebron Massacre, about which Schwartz has written a book.
She contends the obscure atrocity set in motion a cycle of violence that continues to shape the region today.
In 1929, Arabs set upon the Jewish community of the holy city of Hebron now in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and killed nearly 70 people.
Many those killed or injured were pious Jews opposed to a political Zionist movement, viewing it as a secular movement.
The attack, however, hardened many survivors into advocates of a Jewish state.
While the origins of that cycle of violence are not rooted in Iran, the violence between two peoples with suing conflict has only been exacerbated by Tehran, Schwartz said, creating more obstacles to lasting peace.
Peace in the holy land, which Schwartz believes is destined for both peoples to share, can't happen without both sides having self-determination. But peaceful coexistence is not feasible, argues Shwartz with the long arm of the Iranian establishment reaching the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
"I do think that the only way we will see peace and an end to this never-ending war is when both people have self-determination."
You can watch the full episode of Eye for Iran with award winning author Yarden Schwartz on YouTube, or listen on Spotify, Apple, Castbox, Amazon or any major podcast platform.
Shoeib Rezapour, 28, was hanged on Behesht Esfarayen bridge after being convicted of murder, according to the Oslo-based rights group Iran Human Rights (IHR).
Rezapour had been convicted of fatally stabbing a man three and a half years ago, IHR said citing an informed source. His sentence was qisas, or retribution-in-kind under Iran’s Islamic legal system.
Iran remains one of the few countries to conduct public executions, a practice widely condemned by human rights groups.
Public hangings were halted in 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions but resumed in 2022. That year, two people were hanged in public, increasing to seven in 2023 and four in 2024, IHR says.
IHR on Thursday also reported that eight prisoners were executed in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj the previous morning. Six of them were convicted of murder, one was sentenced to death on drug charges and another was hanged for moharebeh or enmity against God in connection with an armed robbery charge.
Earlier this week IHR also warned of the imminent execution of two political prisoners Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani at the same prison after Iran's Supreme Court rejected their request for a retrial.
Last year, at least 975 people were executed in Iran, marking a 17% increase from the 834 executions recorded the previous year.