Photo: khamenei.ir / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0
TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that the supreme leader has ordered officials to end the “neither war nor peace” situation, adding that Iran can negotiate with dignity and avoid war if its rights are secured. He also rejected coercion. The remarks are the president’s own account of a directive. No order has been published, and the statement does not announce a ceasefire or any agreement.
“We can negotiate with dignity and bring the issue to an end with dignity,” Pezeshkian said, according to Iranian reporting of the remarks, which he made earlier Monday at a ceremony marking an anniversary of a dairy company. He said that, logically, war should be avoided if Iran’s rights can be secured through negotiations, but that diplomacy should not be mistaken for surrender. “We will not surrender to force and bullying,” he said, adding: “We seek our rights, but we will not submit to coercion.”
He said he had repeated Iran’s readiness to negotiate on the basis of justice, equality and mutual respect in his address to the UN General Assembly. Related reading: our earlier report on Iran’s leaders and the nuclear question as war looms, here.
Why it matters: a public signal from Tehran that its leadership wants to end the open-ended standoff could affect the diplomacy under way while strikes and shipping disruptions continue. Still unknown: what the instruction covers, whether it changes Iran’s negotiating terms, and how Washington will respond.
JBizNews Desk | Tehran, Iran
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