Iran International
A cluster of former officials and pundits in Tehran has sought to downplay the likelihood of a US-backed Israeli strike on Iran, arguing that Washington has little appetite for such military action.
The claims have circulated amid growing public anxiety about escalation—concerns that have begun to ripple through Iran’s currency and gold markets.
“Trump is no longer interested in playing Netanyahu’s game,” Nameh News, a conservative outlet widely seen as close to Iran’s intelligence community, quoted Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the former head of parliament’s national security committee, as saying.
Falahatpisheh offered little evidence for the assertion, suggesting only that “all of Trump’s attention is currently focused on the Western hemisphere.”
Those assurances stand in contrast to remarks on Wednesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Israel still needed to “settle accounts” with Iran, adding that while Israel did not seek confrontation, it remained alert to “every possible danger.”
Meeting in Mar-a-Lago
Netanyahu is set to meet Donald Trump next week, primarily to discuss the next phase of the Gaza conflict but also Iran’s nuclear standoff.
Nameh News introduced the interview by citing the upcoming meeting, asserting that it would have no impact on Tehran’s determination to pursue its nuclear and missile programs.
Falahatpisheh further argued that the Trump–Netanyahu meeting was intended mainly to shield Israel from broader US national security priorities, claiming Washington was no longer willing to spend resources on military operations outside the Western hemisphere.
As support, he cited US national security documents, noting that Iran was mentioned 17 times in 2024 but only three times in 2025.
‘US not interested’
The same day, the outlet quoted foreign policy analyst Ali Bigdeli, who echoed Falahatpisheh’s assessment almost verbatim.
“I do not assume that the United States is likely to enter an action against Iran to assist Israel,” Bigdeli said, while maintaining that the Trump–Netanyahu meeting would indeed focus on Iran. He warned of the possibility of a “surprise military attack” but concluded that a broader conflict between Israel and Iran remained unlikely.
A similar argument appeared in the reformist daily Arman Melli, which published an interview that day with political commentator Hassan Hanizadeh.
Hanizadeh said the United States was “not interested in taking part in a new war against Iran” and accused Netanyahu and Israeli media of amplifying regional instability for domestic political reasons.
Taken together, the remarks suggest a coordinated effort to reassure domestic audiences that war is unlikely, even as official rhetoric remains confrontational. Whether such messaging can ease public anxiety—and calm markets in Iran—remains an open question.
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.