Hardline Kayhan editor says US cannot be trusted, calls truce ‘gift to enemy’

Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of the hardline Kayhan newspaper, argued that any temporary ceasefire or negotiation with the United States would only help Washington recover and prepare for further attacks, and said Iran should not release pressure on an enemy he described as weakened and desperate.

Writing in Kayhan, Shariatmadari said even if the other side accepted all of Iran’s reported conditions, there was no reason to believe the United States would honor them.

He argued that the conflict with Washington was not over specific events but over the Islamic Republic’s very existence, and said the confrontation could end only if either Iran surrendered to the US-led order or that order changed its nature.

He said expecting the United States to abandon hostility after a ceasefire was “unreasonable” and “naive,” and argued that any pause in fighting would simply give the enemy time to rebuild.

He also said that talk of a truce could weaken public unity, encourage divisions among officials and embolden what he described as compromise-seeking currents inside Iran.

“A ceasefire, compromise and negotiation are a gift to the enemy,” he wrote.

Shariatmadari also said the enemy should not be released from pressure while it was, in his words, “out of breath,” and framed the continuation of the war as tied not only to strategy but also to vengeance for those killed, especially the slain supreme leader.