Iran International
The prospect of an interim agreement between Tehran and Washington has exposed deep divisions in Iran, with some officials presenting it as diplomatic progress while hardliners warn it could cross the Islamic Republic’s red lines.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he was heading to the White House's Situation Room to make a final decision on an emerging deal with Iran, after saying parts of the arrangement had been agreed.
The remarks came one day after the US military struck an Iranian drone facility near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards reportedly responded by targeting an American base in the region, believed to be located in Kuwait.
In Tehran, lawmakers aligned with Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf — who is also leading Iran’s negotiating team — reacted positively to reports of progress, while hardline factions sharply criticized the negotiations.
Fada-Hossein Maleki, a member of parliament’s National Security Commission, spoke of “significant quantitative and qualitative progress” in the talks and claimed that “most proposals of the Islamic Republic have been accepted.”
According to Maleki, Iran’s main concern is “Trump’s unpredictability.” He also said Ghalibaf’s recent trip to Qatar focused on frozen Iranian assets and had produced positive results for Tehran.
By contrast, National Security Committee spokesman Ebrahim Rezaei criticized concessions in the negotiations during a televised interview. “Why should we even commit to the United States not to build a nuclear weapon?” he said.
Another lawmaker, Ruhollah Izadkhah, accused Ghalibaf of sidelining parliament. “Apparently, they intend to keep parliament shut so they can reopen the strait,” he said, adding: “The people will not allow it.”
Abolfazl Aboutorabi, another lawmaker, claimed that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s “red lines” regarding the Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear issue and compensation demands had been violated in the talks.
He accused Washington of trying to deceive Iran by offering “a lollipop” — referring to a proposed $300 billion reconstruction fund without binding guarantees — in exchange for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. He also predicted that the United States would attack Iran again after the World Cup and US congressional elections.
Parisa Nasr, a market specialist, accused the negotiators of “surrenderism”. Writing online, she said: “First they turn Iran’s strategic assets into bargaining chips; then they effectively transform these into burned cards and worthless leverage; and finally, by arguing that ‘we have no winning cards left,’ they drag the country from one pit into another colonial surrender agreement.”
Doubts about a lasting agreement
Some Iranian social media users argue that even a signed agreement would not prevent future war. Others fear that if a temporary arrangement evolves into a durable settlement, hopes for political change inside Iran will fade significantly. Many in this camp believe Trump has abandoned the Iranian people and left them alone.
Saeed Mohammadi-Jazi, a trader and financial analyst, wrote on X that within a few months either a comprehensive agreement would be reached — ensuring the survival of the current system — or the region would face a “big and final” war that would determine the fate of the Islamic Republic.
Another user wrote: “A real nuclear agreement seems unlikely. Both sides will use this temporary calm to prepare for the next round of conflict — a conflict that may resume within months.”
Some ordinary users have also criticized Washington for negotiating with the Islamic Republic.
One user wrote on X: “A temporary Iran-US agreement — if it is signed — will not end Iran’s crisis. A regime emerging from this war will be weaker externally but stronger internally, and financially integrated into the global economy without the slightest accountability for what it has done.”
“The people who came into the streets in January and were killed were used as bargaining chips in this equation and then discarded once the deal was completed,” the user added.
A nation suspended between war and peace
Many Iranians are following developments minute by minute with growing anxiety. Ordinary citizens say the prolonged atmosphere of uncertainty has become more exhausting than anything else.
Sima, a Tehran resident, said the feeling of living in a “neither war nor peace” situation has affected every aspect of her life and the lives of those around her.
“So many times we thought a deal was close, and then within hours everything suddenly changed, and the threat of war escalated again — like last night’s clashes in the Persian Gulf and Bandar Abbas,” she said. “I truly felt again as if I could hear planes and missiles above my head. Fortunately, so far, neither side has said these clashes mean the ceasefire has collapsed.”
On Iranian news websites, reports on gold and currency prices continue to dominate headlines. Amid soaring inflation and political instability that have weakened the national currency, many Iranians have turned to buying foreign currency and gold. Yet a temporary agreement could sharply reduce the value of those investments if markets suddenly fall.
Morteza, a Tehran-based engineer, said he converted all of his savings intended for buying a home into US dollars several months ago. Although he believes an agreement — especially one leading to sanctions relief — could improve the economy, he says the uncertainty keeps him awake at night.
“When I was a child, after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, many people — including my father — suffered huge losses when Iran accepted the ceasefire resolution,” he said.
The poster, announcing a memorial ceremony at the Abdol-Azim shrine in Rey, south of Tehran, lists Zahra Sadat Haddad-Adel, Boshra Hosseini Khamenei, Mesbah al-Hoda Bagheri and Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani as among the dead.
Each name connects the Khamenei household to one of the families or institutions that have shaped the Islamic Republic’s political, cultural and administrative elite for decades: the parliament, the Supreme Leader’s office, the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, Imam Sadegh University and the network of institutions around the leader’s office.
The ceremony itself is religious and familial. But the names on the poster point to something larger: a closed circle of family relationships through which access, influence and institutional power have long moved inside the Islamic Republic.
The Haddad-Adel connection
One of the most recognizable names is Zahra Sadat Haddad-Adel, wife of Mojtaba Khamenei and daughter of Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel.
Haddad-Adel served as speaker of Iran’s seventh parliament from 2004 to 2008 and is known as the first non-clerical speaker of the Islamic Republic’s parliament. He also served as a lawmaker in several parliamentary terms and remains head of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature.
His influence extends beyond parliament. He is a member of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, an adviser to the slain Supreme Leader and founder of the private Farhang school, which critics have described as one of the symbols of special educational access for families close to the ruling system.
For critics, Haddad-Adel’s presence across political, cultural and educational institutions, combined with his family tie to the Khamenei household, reflects the concentration of power within a limited circle of families close to the state.
His name also appears on the US Treasury Department’s sanctions list.
Imam Sadegh University and the Bagheri Kani family
The name Mesbah al-Hoda Bagheri draws attention to another powerful network: the Bagheri Kani family and the institutions around Imam Sadegh University.
Mesbah al-Hoda Bagheri Kani was the husband of Hoda Khamenei, Ali Khamenei’s daughter, and the son of Mohammad-Bagher Bagheri Kani, an influential cleric who served in the Assembly of Experts and headed Imam Sadegh University.
The same family also includes Ali Bagheri Kani, a senior diplomat who has held key posts in Iran’s foreign policy establishment, including political deputy foreign minister, acting foreign minister, senior nuclear negotiator and senior positions in the Supreme National Security Council.
Their uncle, Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani, was one of the Islamic Republic’s most influential clerics. He served as head of the Assembly of Experts, secretary-general of the Combatant Clergy Association, briefly as prime minister in 1981, and for decades as head of Imam Sadegh University.
Imam Sadegh University expanded after the 1979 revolution and became one of the main training grounds for state managers. Many officials in Iran’s political, security, media and diplomatic institutions are graduates of Imam Sadegh University.
Through these links, the Bagheri Kani family connects the Khamenei household to one of the Islamic Republic’s most important pipelines for training and placing loyal officials in diplomacy, security, politics and state administration.
The Supreme Leader’s office
Another name on the poster, Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani, points directly to the Supreme Leader’s office.
The 14-month-old child was connected to two of the most influential families in the Islamic Republic. On one side, she was the granddaughter of Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, the longtime head of Ali Khamenei’s office. On the other, she was a granddaughter of Ali Khamenei.
Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani headed the Supreme Leader’s office since 1989, the year Khamenei became leader. He is one of the most influential but least publicly visible figures in the Islamic Republic’s power structure.
Because of his position, Golpayegani has played a central role in the messages, decisions and administrative machinery of the leader’s office. The US Treasury sanctioned him in 2019 over his role acting on behalf of that office.
His family link to Khamenei, as reflected in the name of Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani, shows how the leader’s office is not only an institution but also part of a wider web of personal and familial ties.
Boshra Khamenei
The poster also lists Boshra Hosseini Khamenei, Ali Khamenei’s eldest daughter.
Unlike some other members of the Khamenei family, Boshra Khamenei has rarely appeared in public, and little information has been published about her personal life or activities.
In recent weeks, state media have referred to her as “martyr Boshra Khamenei.” Some reports have mentioned her educational background and interest in literature.
Tabnak, in a report framed as a student’s note for “martyr Boshra Khamenei,” referred to her as “Ms. Hosseini” and described her connection to education and literature.
Her presence on the poster alongside the other names brings the focus back to the Khamenei family itself, a household that has remained mostly shielded from public life while remaining central to the structure of power.
A compressed image of power
The memorial poster is striking because it brings together four names that would otherwise appear in different corners of the Islamic Republic’s elite: the Haddad-Adel family, the Bagheri Kani family, the Mohammadi Golpayegani family and the Khamenei household.
Together, they form a compressed image of how power has been organized around the leader’s family and its closest allies.
For critics of the Islamic Republic, the connections point to a familiar pattern: influence concentrated among a small circle of trusted families whose proximity to the leader’s office can open paths across the state.
The memorial in Rey is therefore more than a family or religious ceremony. It offers a glimpse of how, at the top of the Islamic Republic, family names often double as signs of political access, institutional reach and long-standing power.
