Iran International
The war with the United States and Israel has exposed unusually open divisions within Iran’s clerical establishment, with hardline calls for escalation clashing with warnings over the cost of continued conflict.
Proposals aimed at de-escalation have been exchanged in recent weeks, according to officials on both sides, but the gap between Washington and Tehran remains wide, with core disagreements unresolved.
Hardline cleric and MP Mahmoud Nabavian said Iran would escalate sharply if attacked again.
“If the United States launches another attack, Iran would strike residential areas housing kings and heads of state in Arab countries” south of the Persian Gulf, he said, while also urging President Donald Trump to “admit defeat.”
In contrast, liberal cleric and human-rights lawyer Mohsen Rohami argued that those opposing negotiations with Washington should be held accountable for the human and material toll of the war.
While ultraconservatives insist Iran must not negotiate, Rohami said “people in the streets of Iran are not opposed to negotiations,” casting diplomacy as both a public demand and a strategic necessity at a time when the costs of war are mounting.
The divide extends beyond the clergy. Hardline MP Ali Khezrian said Iran “will certainly support the war” and has chosen to halt talks with Washington, adding that even indirect messaging through media or intermediaries should stop.
Rohami pushed back, warning lawmakers against presenting personal views as state policy. Decisions on negotiations, he said, rest with Iran’s leadership and are coordinated through the Supreme National Security Council and senior state bodies.
“The decision to negotiate is supported by the nation,” he said in remarks to Khabar Online.
He described Iran’s military actions as defensive but warned that the damage from a prolonged conflict could take years to repair. Steel plants, refineries and major electricity and gas infrastructure have been hit, he said, adding that much of Iran’s industrial base was built over the past century.
“Peace is the norm, and war is the exception,” Rohami said, cautioning that public mobilization in support of the state cannot be sustained indefinitely. “Their presence does not mean they oppose negotiations or agreements.”
A separate commentary on the Asr Iran website identified four “strategic mistakes” by hardliners, including underestimating US and Israeli power and focusing on the enemy’s losses rather than Iran’s own costs.
It also warned against portraying Western adversaries as internally collapsing, arguing that political divisions in democracies tend to narrow in wartime.
If such miscalculations shape decision-making, the commentary said, Iran risks losing both its current position and its chance to bring the conflict to a favorable end..
