Resistance to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf's leadership, both as parliament speaker and chief negotiator, appears to be growing, though it remains confined to a small but vocal group of ultraconservative lawmakers.
The United States on Monday announced a sweeping sanctions waiver for Iran's energy sector, authorizing the sale of Iranian oil, allowing payments to Tehran in US dollars and opening the door for Iranian oil and petroleum products to be imported into the United States.
Nearly half a century after Iran's revolutionary government severed ties with Washington, took US diplomats hostage and turned "Death to America" into one of its defining slogans, a new US proposal could see frozen Iranian assets used to purchase American goods.
US-Iran talks in Switzerland produced a roadmap toward a final agreement within 60 days, but only after negotiators spent much of the first day grappling with the issue that nearly derailed the process: Lebanon.
Iranian hardliners have sharply criticized a government-linked report that warned prolonged nightly pro-state gatherings could obstruct diplomacy, exposing a growing dispute over the role of street mobilization in postwar Iran.
The Memorandum of Understanding between Iran and the United States may strengthen the Revolutionary Guards, weaken Persian Gulf security and deepen China's access to Iranian energy. Above all, however, it leaves Iranians to face the Islamic Republic on their own.
A hardline lawmaker sparked a major backlash after reading excerpts from what were described as top-secret letters by Iran’s Supreme Leader on state TV, claiming he opposed US talks, before he was interrupted and the program was abruptly cut off.
The agreement between Tehran and Washington holds out the prospect of sanctions relief and potentially unprecedented foreign investment, but many of its economic promises remain uncertain and some may prove difficult to deliver even if negotiations succeed.
A message attributed to Iran’s Supreme Leader suggesting he had reservations about the agreement with the United States has sparked a fierce debate in Tehran, with hardliners and moderates offering sharply different interpretations of its meaning and implications.
UN experts on Friday welcomed the signing of a 14-point memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran but warned that any final agreement that fails to address human rights in Iran would be “fundamentally incomplete.”
A message attributed to Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and the swift reactions from President Masoud Pezeshkian and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf highlighted the uneasy coalition behind the agreement with the United States and the lingering doubts about it.
The Memorandum of Understanding concluded this week between Washington and Tehran may help halt active hostilities and reopen one of the world's most important waterways, but its durability is far less certain than its supporters suggest.
The easing of tensions between Iran and the United States has raised hopes for economic relief, but after years of declining living standards, many Iranians say any breakthrough will be judged by whether it improves their daily lives.
Hardline opposition in Iran to the Islamabad MoU increasingly resembles the reaction of ultraconservatives to the 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran's Supreme Leader sought to distance himself from the Iran-US memorandum of understanding, saying he approved it despite having “another view in principle,” as the two arch-rivals began implementing the document’s Strait of Hormuz commitments Thursday.
Iran emerged from the recent conflict militarily weakened, its regional proxies battered and its deterrence challenged, yet many analysts now warn that Tehran may be turning battlefield losses into political leverage.
US Vice President JD Vance said a final deal with Iran will bar uranium enrichment, destroy Tehran’s enriched uranium stocks and cap the range of its missiles, as a 60-day negotiation period began Thursday following the signing of a US-Iran MoU.
Senior US officials sought to clarify key provisions of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran, pushing back against reports that Tehran would receive access to frozen assets, sanctions relief or a multibillion-dollar reconstruction package upon signing the agreement.
A senior US official on Wednesday read out a 14-point memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran that outlines a high-level understanding to halt the war in Iran and open the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian newspapers and digital outlets split sharply over the emerging US-Iran memorandum, with hardliners denouncing it as retreat and pro-diplomacy outlets framing it as a system-backed path to end the war and ease economic pressure.
World leaders welcomed the agreement between Iran and the United States to end months of conflict, expressing support for the ceasefire and the negotiations expected to follow.
Iran's state-affiliated Mehr News on Sunday published what it described as details of a 14-point draft memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington, provides for the release of $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets during the 60-day talks