With holy history allusion, Khamenei blesses 'temporary' US deal

Speaking at Friday prayers in Tehran, interim Friday prayer leader Mohammad-Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard said that Iran’s nuclear policy is rooted in a religious and political doctrine that prioritizes peaceful development while resisting external pressure.

"The Islamic Republic’s strategy is based on transparency about the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, the development of nuclear technology, and the lifting of oppressive sanctions," he said.

His remarks come against the backdrop of renewed indirect negotiations between Tehran and Washington, facilitated by Oman, with the second round held in Rome and third slated for Muscat on Saturday.

According to Aboutorabi-Fard, the talks were initiated "at the repeated request of the highest-ranking US official and are proceeding with caution due to America’s repeated breaches of previous commitments, especially the unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has characterized the Muscat-hosted dialogue as a test of American sincerity. "The talks in Oman are a test to gauge the seriousness of the US," Aboutorabi-Fard quoted the minister as saying. "Complete sanctions relief and legal guarantees can pave the way for real progress."

The Omani Foreign Ministry, which hosted the recent talks in Rome, said the goal is to reach a “fair and lasting nuclear agreement” that ensures Iran is free of nuclear weapons and also free from sanctions—while maintaining its right to peaceful nuclear development.

Tehran views the Omani statement as aligning closely with its own strategic roadmap. "This declaration reflects the correct direction of negotiations in line with Iran’s strategy," Aboutorabi-Fard added.

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The Tehran cleric, like several other Friday prayer leaders representing the Supreme Leader, portrayed the current diplomacy as a product of strength.

“Without the slightest doubt, the negotiations began from a position of dignity and power,” he said. “Iran has the upper hand in defining the topics and principles of the negotiations.”

Aboutorabi-Fard added that effective diplomacy must be backed by national strength—particularly technological and military power. “Diplomacy without power is ineffective in securing national interests,” he said. “The accumulation of scientific capacity, especially in nuclear technology, is one of the pillars of Iran’s national strength.”

He added that the country’s deterrent military capabilities bolster the negotiating team. “Our defensive power and enhanced deterrent strength are reliable assets for the Muscat negotiations.”

While advocating for the removal of sanctions, Aboutorabi-Fard echoed Khamenei’s frequent warnings against relying too heavily on external negotiations to solve domestic problems.

“Sanctions relief can help create conditions for sustainable economic growth,” he said, “but without transforming our economic and administrative structures, and without cutting the dependency of the budget on oil, real economic progress will remain out of reach.”

He urged the parliament and government ministers to focus on structural reforms regardless of the outcome of talks with the United States.

Other Friday prayer leaders across Iran echoed similar sentiments, praising Iran’s scientific achievements while cautioning against overreliance on diplomacy.

The cleric in Ilam quoted Khamenei, saying: “The diplomacy apparatus should do its work, but don’t tie the country’s future to the negotiations.”

In Yezd, Mohammad-Reza Naseri warned: “Don’t trust the enemy’s slogans. Real progress comes from self-reliance and heeding the Leader’s advice.”

And in Shiraz and Shahrud, Friday prayer leaders marked the anniversary of the failed US military operation in Tabas in 1980 -- Operation Eagle Claw -- as a reminder of “divine protection” and resilience against foreign intervention.

Mashhad firebrand cleric Ahmad Alamolhoda questioned whether, "After witnessing so many miracles, is it right to still hinge our hopes on America as a problem solver?""Conditioning our lives on negotiations demonstrates a lack of faith in God's power."

“Sure,” Trump said in an interview with Time magazine when asked if he would be willing to meet Iran’s top leaders.

The comments come as the third round of indirect negotiations is scheduled to take place on Saturday in Oman. The talks, which began earlier this month, aim to revive diplomacy after years of tension following Trump’s 2018 decision to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

"I think we're going to make a deal with Iran. Nobody else could do that," he said during the interview.

Earlier this year, Trump reinstated his administration’s maximum pressure policy on Iran, while also expressing openness to dialogue.

In February he also said he was prepared to speak with his Iranian counterpart and voiced hope for a peaceful resolution. “I really want to see peace, and I hope that we're able to do that,” Trump said at the time. “They cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful, but Trump has warned of catastrophic consequences if a new deal is not reached swiftly. He has also said military action remains a possibility to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

In the Time interview, Trump rejected reports that he had stopped Israel from launching strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, but said he preferred a diplomatic solution. “I didn’t stop them. But I didn’t make it comfortable for them, because I think we can make a deal without the attack,” he said. “It’s possible we’ll have to attack because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”

Asked if he was concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu might draw the United States into a broader conflict, Trump replied, “No.”

Instead of directly naming Khamenei, the commentaries were careful to use terms such as "leadership," "governance" and "decision-makers," as directly exhorting Iran's theocrat is mostly off-limits in public discourse.

Iranian nuclear scientist and former diplomat Ali Khorram, who served as Iran's ambassador to the UN headquarters in Geneva in the 80s, said in an interview with the pro-reform Arman Melli newspaper that Iran's leadership should take rational decisions which take into account future threats.

Khorram, who studied nuclear physics and international law in the United States, expressed optimism that US President Donald Trump could preside over a genuinely improved relationship

"Trump genuinely wants to improve relations between Tehran and Washington and elevate them to the level of friendship."

Reformist political commentator Abbas Abdi in an interview with pro-government reformist daily Etemad, said authorities should forge an agreement not just with the United States but with its own people.

"The people in Iran are no less important than an agreement with America" for the survival of the political establishment, he said.

Abdi highlighted the divide between the government and the nation, exacerbated by waves of protests since 2017 and the violent suppression of the demonstrators by security forces, and called for pluralism and improved governance.

"Almost certainly, the Iranian side has made a decision at the top level of the government to reach an agreement" with the United States, Abdi said, adding that the rapid progress in talks suggested that some essential agreements were already in place before the two sides met.

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the former chief of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told the pro-reform website Fararu that Tehran must abandon certain taboos if it seeks genuine progress.

"If Iran does not break those taboos, any achievement in the negotiations will not last long," he said.

The politician has previously spoken extensively about the need to move beyond Tehran's anti-Americanism, its reliance on China and Russia and its acknowledgment of past mistakes in its relationship with the Iranian people.

Iran's primary challenge, Falahatpisheh added, is on the home front, warning that persistent tensions could become increasingly costly.

But as Iran has reeled from the sudden death of a president, regional setbacks as well as deepening unrest and poverty, the rebranding by a conservative political fixture may be a calculated maneuver to survive in one of Tehran's most uncertain times.

In July 2021, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed Mohseni-Ejei as Chief Justice following the election of another arch-reactionary cleric and former judge, Ebrahim Raisi, to the presidency.

But since taking office, he has gradually distanced himself from those of ultra-hardliners of the Paydari (Steadfastness) Party and other supporters of the former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

He has also cultivated a relatively cooperative relationship with the moderate administration of President Masoud Pezeshkian and supported some of its moves including the push for the temporary suspension of a new and very strict hijab law that could provoke public unrest if implemented.

Once infamous for his hardline stance and alleged human rights violations, Mohseni-Ejei has also attempted to rebrand himself as a champion of anti-corruption, repeatedly emphasizing the theme in public speeches.

The political repositioning has drawn sharp criticism from ultra-hardliners. In recent months, Mohseni-Ejei even publicly criticized the late President Raisi after his death over the handling of high-profile corruption cases, angering the Paydari Party and other staunch conservatives.

The backlash centered on the Debsh Tea corruption case, in which two of Raisi’s ministers were implicated and received what critics view as lenient punishments.

Hardliners have also condemned the judiciary’s handling of a long-standing and politically sensitive case involving alleged corruption in a failed gas export agreement with the UAE known as the Crescent deal, accusing the judiciary of neglecting to prosecute key reformist figures including former oil minister Bijan Zanganeh.

Rise to prominence

Born in 1956, Mohseni-Ejei studied at the Haqqani School in Qom, a seminary known for producing many of Iran’s leading hardline clerics. He holds the religious title of Ayatollah, signaling his status as a mujtahid—a scholar authorized to independently interpret Islamic law.

His public profile rose dramatically in 1998 during the televised corruption trial of Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi, the reformist mayor of Tehran. Acting as both judge and prosecutor, Mohseni-Ejei’s confrontational courtroom exchanges with Karbaschi were broadcast by state television, elevating his public profile.

Later that year, in November 1998, Khamenei appointed him as Prosecutor General of the Special Clerical Court, a powerful institution that operates independently of the judiciary and prosecutes only members of the clergy, often for politically charged offenses.

Around the same time, Mohseni-Ejei also represented the judiciary on the Press Supervisory Board, which played a central role in the mass closure of reformist newspapers in April 2000, just one day after a sermon by Khamenei attacking the free press.

The crackdown led to the arrest of numerous journalists and the shuttering of dozens of publications, and one of the most colorful alleged episodes in the jurist's career.

Prominent journalist Isa Saharkhiz accused Mohseni-Ejei of going berserk at a 2004 meeting of the Press Supervisor Board and said the cleric threw a two bowls full of sugar cubes at him and went on the attack, biting him in the shoulder.

Saharkhiz filed a lawsuit, but the case was never investigated or brought to court.

Mohseni-Ejei's career soared nonetheless.

Intelligence minister

In August 2005, Mohseni-Ejei joined President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s cabinet as Minister of Intelligence. He held the post until July 2009, when he was dismissed in the aftermath of the unrest following Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election.

Following a brief transitional period during which Ahmadinejad temporarily assumed control of the ministry, Heydar Moslehi was appointed as Mohseni-Ejei’s successor.

Sanctioned chief justice

In August 2009, shortly after leaving the cabinet, Mohseni-Ejei was appointed Prosecutor General of Iran by then-Chief Justice Sadeq Amoli-Larijani. He was later promoted to First Deputy to the Chief Justice in 2014, a position he held until his elevation to Chief Justice in 2021.

In 2011, both the United States Department of State and the European Union sanctioned Mohseni-Ejei for his role in the deadly suppression of protests following the disputed 2009 elections, citing serious human rights abuses.

Khamenei has largely silenced Tehran's hardliners ahead of the third round of talks with Washington but some opposition persists within his own office.

Two newspapers funded and maintained by Khamenei’s office —Kayhan and Ettela'at —have been presenting starkly different perspectives on the talks over the past week. Both are among Iran’s oldest newspapers, and their top management is personally appointed by the Supreme Leader.

Kayhan, known for its consistently anti-US stance, has maintained a hardline, pessimistic view on the negotiations, even after Khamenei’s rhetoric softened in his recent speeches.

The newspaper insists that "the talks will lead to nowhere." Previously, the daily had writted "negotiating with the United States would be foolish." In a controversial satirical commentary, Kayhan even called for the assassination of President Donald Trump.

The newspaper’s editor, Hossein Shariatmadari, wrote on April 18 that "Iran is engaged in a hybrid war with the United States, and the Iranian government should adopt a combat posture against Washington."

Later, on April 22, the daily quoted IRGC-linked Defa Press website as saying, "Iran is sufficiently armed with top-secret weapons to attack Diego Garcia and confront US and British forces there. Iran’s Shahed-136 drones can reach Diego Garcia, located approximately 4,000 kilometers from its borders."

The report added, "Iran can set fire to Diego Garcia with its improved Khorramshahr ballistic missiles, while its cruise missiles can target massive U.S. vessels in the Indian Ocean."

Although the articles may be a mix of falsehoods, disinformation and wishful thinking, they appear to reflect abiding suspicions of the diplomatic outreach among hardliners.

'Embarrassing themselves'

Earlier, Ettela'at had welcomed the negotiations. In an analysis published on April 22, the newspaper sought to expose "those who are undermining the talks."

"Three groups in Iran are attempting to obstruct the negotiations. Although they are too weak to derail the process entirely, they might succeed in discouraging some people and embarrassing themselves."

In an apparent reference to previous Iranian governments and their leaders, Ettela'at identified the first group as "those who question why negotiations were not allowed when they were in power and could have claimed them as their own achievement."

The second group, according to the newspaper, consists of "those who equate negotiations and compromise with treason. They chant radical slogans, create tensions, and sometimes their rhetoric proves costly for the government. On occasion, they even incite small protests in the streets." T

This appeared to be a clear reference to ultraconservatives, such as members of the ultra-conservative Paydari Party and the editors of Kayhan.

The third group attempting to obstruct the negotiations, Ettela'at wrote, is "the foreign-based Iranian opposition," which the newspaper characterized as "bankrupt opportunists."

"Let us support détente and the ongoing negotiations," the daily insisted.

This development could be seen as an extension of Khamenei's "good cop-bad cop" strategy. However, the timing –just as negotiations continue—and the stark contrast between the two perspectives strongly suggest a deeper divide within Khamenei's office.

While pockets of resistance against a potential deal with Washington persist, some Iranians—such as sociologist Ebrahim Fayyaz—are already considering the aftermath of an agreement.

Characterizing the negotiations as inevitable, Fayyaz said in an interview with Khabar Online, "This is the first time Iranians are engaging in negotiations with a world power on equal footing."

At the same time, he warned that radical rhetoric from hardliners, particularly those affiliated with Iran’s state television, could point to serious internal instability.