Iran’s foreign minister said a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States could be signed remotely in the coming days, even as Tehran said the text was not final and hardliners attacked both the emerging deal and his handling of its public messaging.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state television Friday that the memorandum could be signed once the final stages of negotiations are completed.
“Probably in the coming days, the memorandum of understanding between us and the United States will be signed,” Araghchi said.
He added that the signing would take place digitally and remotely after the final negotiating stages are passed, saying the process would be announced and could happen “in the coming days.”
But Araghchi also cautioned that the memorandum had not yet been signed and could still change. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said separately that the text was in the final stages of internal review and that no final decision had been made.
“Regarding the text of the understanding, we are in the final internal review stages. A meeting of the relevant bodies is currently underway,” Baghaei said.
Araghchi sought to present the memorandum not as a final nuclear settlement, but as an interim political and security arrangement that would have to be implemented before any nuclear negotiations begin.
He said nuclear talks with the United States would take place only at a later stage and would not proceed unless the proposed interim deal was implemented first.
According to Araghchi, the interim arrangement would include reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending conflicts on multiple fronts. He said management of the strait would not return to the pre-war era, adding that sovereignty over the waterway belonged to Iran and Oman and that Iran would secure safe passage for ships through it.
Araghchi also said the draft memorandum contains 14 articles and that nuclear issues had been moved to a second phase of negotiations lasting 60 days. He said the first phase included ending the war in Iran and on other fronts, as well as mutual commitments by Tehran and Washington not to interfere in each other’s internal affairs.
The comments came after Araghchi wrote on X that the “Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding” had never been closer to finalization, while urging media outlets not to speculate about its contents before the process is complete.
Hardliners target Araghchi
Araghchi’s public messaging quickly drew criticism from hardline circles, especially after President Donald Trump reposted his message and described it as “very positive.”
Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, criticized Araghchi for what it called an “ambiguous” response to Trump’s rejection of Iranian media reports about the terms of a possible agreement.
The outlet said Araghchi’s English-language post failed to directly rebut Trump’s claim that leaked Iranian accounts of the agreement were false. Fars said his call for media restraint could be interpreted as an indirect confirmation that some of the published Iranian reports were inaccurate.
Fars also noted that Trump reposted Araghchi’s message shortly after it was published, portraying the Iranian foreign minister’s remarks as support for his own version of the negotiations.
Trump had earlier rejected Iranian media reports about the possible terms of the MoU, saying leaked details published in Iran had “NOTHING” to do with the written terms and bore “no relation to the truth.” He later told Axios that Iran had privately “apologized for putting out false information,” while saying he still believed a deal could be signed over the weekend or on Monday.
Hardline lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian also criticized the latest version of the draft, saying it was more damaging than two earlier versions and involved greater Iranian concessions.
“After seeing the text of the agreement, I must say that compared with the two previous versions, it is more damaging and Iran’s retreats have also increased,” Nabavian said.
He posted a screenshot of Trump reposting Araghchi’s remarks and used it to attack Iranian officials involved in the talks.
“An agreement cooked up by the architects of the disgraceful JCPOA is certainly pure loss,” Nabavian wrote, using a phrase long used by hardliners to criticize the 2015 nuclear deal.
Several Friday prayer leaders also warned against compromise with Washington. Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader in Mashhad, said no understanding would be acceptable without the approval of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
Mohammad Nabi Mousavifard, the Friday prayer leader in Ahvaz, said any retreat before what he called the “US and Israeli front” was “forbidden and unacceptable,” while Mohammad Mehdi Hosseini Hamedani in Karaj warned that countries assisting Iran’s enemies could become targets.
Conflicting reports over terms
The political pressure has been sharpened by sharply different accounts from Tehran and Washington over what the memorandum actually contains.
Iranian state media published details of what it called a 14-point draft understanding with the United States, including a ceasefire on all fronts, the lifting of the naval blockade and oil sanctions, the release of blocked funds, and future talks limited to nuclear and sanctions issues while excluding Iran’s missile program and support for regional allies.
Mehr News Agency said the draft included reconstruction projects worth at least $300 billion and the release of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets. It said final talks would not start until some oil sanctions were suspended, part of the frozen assets were released and the naval blockade was lifted.
US officials have described the emerging deal very differently.
A senior US official told Reuters the MoU would require the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, the on-site destruction and subsequent removal of its highly enriched uranium from Iran, and a long-term inspection regime to enforce compliance.
The official said the deal would be “performance-based,” meaning Iran would receive no access to frozen assets until it had fulfilled its obligations.
Fox News, citing a White House official, reported that those obligations would include dismantling Iran’s nuclear program, removing nuclear material and ending support for proxy groups before sanctions relief is granted.
Vice President J.D. Vance also said Iranian authorities would receive no money simply for signing an agreement or attending a meeting.
“There is a lot of misinformation being circulated about a possible agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program,” Vance said.
Close, but contested
The hardline backlash has contrasted with signals from some senior officials that Iran is preparing for possible implementation.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who heads Iran’s negotiating delegation, said commitments made under a looming deal with the United States must be upheld, warning there would be “no ifs, no buts, no excuses.”
Fars has denied reports that an agreement would be signed in Geneva on Sunday, saying Iran’s review and decision-making process had not been finalized and that claims about both the timing and location were “completely false.”
The denial effectively overtook earlier speculation in Iranian media over a public signing ceremony and who might represent Tehran if one took place.
For now, Iranian officials are presenting the memorandum as close to completion but still unsigned, while Washington is insisting that any benefits for Tehran will depend on concrete performance.
That gap has left both sides trying to shape the public narrative before any document is signed.
In Tehran, the dispute has already moved beyond the content of the memorandum itself to a broader question: whether the leadership can sell an interim understanding with Washington to a political base that still views direct compromise with the United States as a humiliation.
Historian and analyst Abdollah Shahbazi said any document signed at this stage would likely be a memorandum of understanding rather than a legally binding agreement, warning that any such text could at best provide a temporary pause before tensions return.
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.