In an October 28 interview with the Financial Times, Ali Akbar Velayati, Iran’s longest-serving foreign minister and a senior foreign policy advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared Iran was “open to co-operation with any western state that seeks genuine interaction with Iran, provided it respects Iran’s sovereignty and treats us as an equal.” He continued, “We are actively redefining a new balance in relations with western, eastern, and developing countries.” Today, Seyed Mehdi Tabatabaei, the public relations director at the Office of the President, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, announced that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had given an interview to NBC in which he said Iran is “ready for honorable negotiations, as equals,” with the United States. The question is if the incoming U.S. administration will be willing to accept those terms or will take advantage of Iran’s weak position to pursue other agendas.  

• January 14: Seyed Mehdi Tabatabaei, the president’s public relations director, posted on X: “The important message of President Pezeshkian, delivered during a conversation with the famous American host Lester Holt, will be aired by NBC network tomorrow. The Islamic Republic of Iran wants peace and detente in the region and in the world, condemns the war, aggression, and genocide of the Zionist regime, and is ready for honorable negotiations as equals.”