Iran International
President Masoud Pezeshkian has come under mounting attack from Iran’s hardline factions after publicly defending negotiations with the United States and warning that war and sanctions are inflicting serious economic damage on the country.
Pezeshkian questioned opponents of diplomacy in a speech that quickly triggered a fierce backlash from hardline media and politicians.
“If we do not negotiate, then what should we do? Fight forever?” the president said Monday, adding that any talks with Washington would be conducted “with dignity.” He also argued that authorities must speak honestly to the public in order to maintain trust.
The reformist newspaper Sazandegi turned the president’s question into its front-page headline, framing it as a direct challenge to hardline rhetoric.
The reaction from hardline outlets close to the Paydari (Steadfastness) Party was swift.
Raja News described Pezeshkian’s remarks as “deviational” and accused him of becoming “a platform for the pro-Western current.”
In an editorial published Tuesday, the outlet wrote that insistence on negotiations with an enemy that “understands nothing but force” showed that “even the warnings of missiles are not enough to awaken simplistic minds that are comforted by the lullaby of negotiations.”
Hardline lawmaker Hamid Rasaei also attacked the administration during a speech at a pro-government gathering, arguing that negotiations with the United States had repeatedly failed and would bring no benefit to Iran.
Diplomacy continued amid such voices on Wednesday as Pezeshkian met Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who is in Tehran to help exchange messages between Iran and Washington.
Pezeshkian said afterward that Iran had “consistently honored its commitments and explored every avenue to avert war,” adding that “all paths remain open from our side.”
The debate quickly spread across Persian-language social media, where hardline activists accused the president of weakness while supporters praised his candor and argued that acknowledging economic strain was necessary to maintain public trust during wartime.
The controversy also expanded beyond diplomacy into a broader dispute over whether Iranian officials should openly acknowledge the country’s economic and wartime difficulties.
In recent speeches, Pezeshkian warned against presenting an unrealistic image of Iran by pretending enemies were collapsing while Iran itself faced no economic strain. He spoke openly about oil export problems, gasoline shortages and the pressure created by sanctions and war.
Raja News accused the president of “displaying misery and backwardness” and “painting a bleak picture during wartime.”
The outlet mocked what it called his “latest masterpieces,” including remarks such as: “They blocked our path and we are not exporting oil,” “our gasoline production capacity has declined,” and “do we even have dollars at all?”
The backlash also exposed widening tensions within conservative circles, particularly between the ultrahardline Paydari camp and allies of parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Raja News criticized media outlets close to Ghalibaf for failing to sufficiently challenge the president’s comments, while some hardline activists accused the speaker of enabling Pezeshkian’s approach.
Following the criticism, Ghalibaf issued an audio message defending the government against what he described as politically motivated attacks.
Ghalibaf warned that some critics were speaking “as if no war had happened,” accusing politically motivated figures of blaming the government while ignoring broader realities.
Supporters of the president meanwhile defended his unusually candid tone.
Lawyer Yazdollah Taherinasab wrote on X that Pezeshkian’s willingness to speak openly about both the country’s strengths and weaknesses had increased public trust during wartime conditions.
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.