Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has publicly denied reports that he repeatedly threatened to resign during negotiations with the United States over the Strait of Hormuz, dismissing claims of an internal rift as his hardline opponents call talks with Washington 'futile'.
In a television interview marking his second anniversary in office, Pezeshkian addressed rumours that he had offered to step down both verbally and in writing. 'If I want to resign, I will officially announce that I have resigned. I will not resign, I will stand,' he said, accusing unnamed figures of seeking to create a rift inside Iran.
Resignation Claims and Denials
The resignation claims, which have dominated front pages in Iran, were made by Mohammad Bagher Kharazi, a figure linked by marriage to Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader. Kharazi alleged that Pezeshkian was frustrated at being excluded from decision-making, a situation worsened by the supreme leader's secretive whereabouts due to fears of foreign intelligence agencies. Khamenei was reportedly injured in Israeli bombing on the first day of the war that killed his father and has not appeared publicly since.
Kharazi further claimed that Pezeshkian had threatened to quit so often that Khamenei warned he would accept the next resignation threat. However, Khamenei's office on Tuesday labelled the claims 'fundamentally false and untrue'.
Pezeshkian insisted in the interview that he remains in complete harmony with the military and challenged those who claimed 30,000 people were killed in January protests to provide proof, saying they never took up his offer.
Strait of Hormuz Talks
The controversy comes as the US and Europe push for a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping channel. Officials in Muscat fear a temporary agreement would leave Iran with near-permanent dominance, with ships entering the strait close to Iran and leaving through Iranian and Omani waters.
Mehdi Tabatabaei, a senior member of the president's office, dismissed the reports as 'complete nonsense and lies', condemning a 'sinister coalition of lying, deceitful and reckless extremism' in a social media post. He added: 'Two years have passed since their failure in the arena of national elections, yet they are still seeking revenge against the will of the nation. They have become puppets of Iran's enemies.'
Ahmad Zeidabadi, a reformist reporter, said the claims were inflammatory and served only to exacerbate tensions.
Hardline Opposition
Pezeshkian on Sunday suggested that the memorandum of understanding negotiated with the US in June would serve as a cornerstone for Iranian foreign relations, saying Iran 'must strive to compel the enemy to remain committed to what it has signed'.
On Monday, the conservative-dominated Assembly of Experts issued a statement describing hopes for an agreement with the US as 'futile' and labelled 'whispers of capitulation in the name of defending peace' an 'unforgivable betrayal', adding that trusting the 'arrogant government' was a mirage.
Khamenei himself had said in April he opposed talks with the US in principle but had allowed them to proceed in deference to Pezeshkian. The row highlights deep strategic and tactical differences inside Iran over the wisdom of engaging with Washington.
