Hardliners call for closing Mehrabad Airport to block negotiations

A conservative outlet - Raja News - reported on Saturday Iran’s new supreme leader issued a negative response to the Islamabad negotiations, objecting that officials had discussed nuclear issues and failed to uphold a previously outlined set of conditions.

According to the report, the Leader said the talks were conducted “against religious law” due to engagement on the nuclear file and failure to impose the agreed conditions.

The outlet added that members of the Supreme National Security Council subsequently wrote to the Leader defending the need to include the nuclear issue in any negotiations and raising concerns about continued conflict and possible strikes on infrastructure.

It said the Leader responded that the talks would bring “neither benefit in this world nor in the hereafter” and would not prevent attacks on Iran’s infrastructure.

Hardline figure and former lawmaker Jalal Rashidikoochi warned on Saturday that members of the Paydari Front and their allies in parliament, state television and online networks have launched a “very dangerous game” that he said would weaken the standing and popularity of Iran’s new supreme leader among the public.

"The Paydari faction, in collaboration with their representatives in Parliament and on state television, and their aides and supporters in the virtual realm, have embarked on a highly dangerous game-one whose primary outcome will be, before anything else, the erosion of the new Leader's stature and popularity among the masses of the people," Rashidikoochi posted on X.

"Fostering despair over any improvement in conditions, laying the groundwork for tensions, manufacturing false polarizations, disrupting society's psychological security, and undermining the legitimacy of the regime-these are among the other consequences of this perilous game," he added.

US President Donald Trump said there would be “NO TOLLS” in the Strait of Hormuz during the 60-day Iran ceasefire period and none afterward unless imposed by the United States if a final deal is not completed.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said any future tolls would be “by and for the United States of America” as reimbursement for what he described as US services as the “Guardian Angel” of Middle Eastern countries.

The United States’ initial aim in technical talks with Iran in Switzerland on Sunday is to secure an agreement allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect Iranian nuclear sites, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.

The report said any agreement by Tehran would allow IAEA inspectors to visit Iran’s nuclear facilities for the first time since the 12-day war in June 2025.

According to Channel 12, the inspections would likely include Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.

In exchange for Iran agreeing to the return of inspectors, Washington is prepared to release several billion dollars in Iranian assets held in Qatar, the report said.

The funds would be used by Iran to purchase food, medicine and other humanitarian goods, according to the report.

Channel 12 also said the IAEA believes most of Iran’s 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% is held at the Isfahan facility, with the rest located at Natanz and Fordow.

Hardline lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian read excerpts from what were described as top-secret letters by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on state TV, saying he had opposed nuclear talks, demanded compensation from the US and insisted on Iran’s exclusive control over Hormuz, before he was interrupted and the live program was abruptly ended.

Iran’s state broadcaster later called Nabavian’s remarks a legal violation warranting judicial action and said a director at the organization had resigned over the incident.

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