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Tehran Signals Readiness as U.S.-Iran Talks Remain on Hold

The April 8 edition of the Iran Media Review examines Iranian views on Tehran’s position regarding negotiating with the United States.

Ali Alfoneh

While addressing the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged that negotiations between Iran and the United States in Oman have not yet commenced. Nonetheless, several indicators suggest that Tehran is signaling a strategic willingness to engage: The chief of the general staff of the armed forces, Major General Mohammad Baqeri, has initiated high-level briefings with senior commanders of both the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the conventional military, focusing on the contents of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s correspondence with President Donald J. Trump. Concurrently, reformist media platforms are openly challenging the hard-line narrative, going so far as to accuse Kayhan Editor-in-Chief Hossein Shariatmadari of actively sabotaging the diplomatic process. 

  • April 7: Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, as quoted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps aligned Tasnim News:  
    • “No negotiation has taken place yet.” When questioned about a U.S. senator advocating for a Libya-style disarmament framework, Araghchi responded: “In their dreams!”  
  • April 7: Mohammad Baqeri, in remarks delivered at the Khatam al-Anbia Central Command and reported by the IRGC-aligned Javan, summarized Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s letter to President Donald J. Trump: 
    • “We will not initiate hostilities, but we will respond decisively to any threat. Our objective is regional stability, and regarding the nuclear dossier, we deny intentions of weaponization. The nuclear program is designed to meet national development needs. We will not engage in direct negotiations, though indirect dialogue is not ruled out. The U.S. remains the most untrustworthy and reneging actor in diplomatic history; therefore, no trust can be placed in the U.S.” 
  • April 7: Reformist Shargh Daily columnist Davoud Heshmati issued a pointed critique of resistance to diplomatic overture to the United States, suggesting it jeopardizes Iran’s strategic interests: 
    • “Just as Iran was preparing the answer to Trump’s letter, in Tehran, there is talk of assassinating him,” referencing an April 3 satirical column in the hard-line Kayhan. He continued that, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “lobbying Trump to prevent any agreement that can help the Islamic Republic survive, there is a campaign in Tehran reminding the Cabinet of its obligations to serve as the pivot of the Islamic world.” 
  • April 7: Technocratic Sazandegi newspaper spotlighted hard-liner opposition to negotiations with a stark visual juxtaposition: Its front page featured portraits of Kayhan Editor Hossein Shariatmadari and former Vice President Mike Pence under the headline: “Warmongers.”  
Ali Alfoneh

is a senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. He is the author of Political Succession in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Demise of the Clergy and the Rise of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (2020).

The views represented herein are the author’s or speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of AGSIW, its staff, or its board of directors.

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