Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei publicly endorsed the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States on Thursday, while casting the agreement as a product of American desperation and emphasizing that future negotiations will not constitute a concession to Washington.
In a written message addressed to the Iranian nation and published by state media, Khamenei confirmed he had authorized the agreement despite initially holding reservations.
Khamenei said President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials had provided assurances that Iran’s rights and the interests of the “Resistance Front” would be protected.
“In the course of reaching this stage, the officials in charge, out of sincere concern and goodwill, made extensive efforts—and of course, it was the American president who, out of desperation, used all kinds of leverage to bring this about,” Khamenei wrote, according to the text of his statement.
The supreme leader acknowledged his personal reluctance, stating, “I, as a matter of principle, held a different view; however, out of the commitment that the esteemed president—as the head of the Supreme National Security Council—gave to me on his own behalf and on behalf of the other members regarding the safeguarding of the rights of the Iranian nation and the Resistance Front, and his explicit acceptance of that responsibility, I granted my permission.”
Khamenei emphasized that Iran would not tolerate additional conditions in the upcoming negotiating phase.
He stated that President Pezeshkian had made clear “if the American side seeks to make excessive demands, they will not submit to them.”
The supreme leader also addressed the significance of direct talks with the United States, cautioning that engagement should not be misinterpreted as a strategic shift. “However, it is self-evident that the in-person negotiations that will take place in the future will not mean acceptance of the enemy’s position,” Khamenei wrote.
His endorsement is a critical step in Iran’s political system, as no agreement with the United States can proceed without the supreme leader’s approval.
The statement came after the memorandum of understanding was signed by President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday, following more than 100 days of war.
Trump’s critics say at this point he has gotten much less and given up much more to Tehran than the deal President Barack Obama sealed in 2015, with China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain, and the European Union.
Both deals involve a written commitment by Iran never to seek a nuclear weapon. Trump – who declared the nuclear threat his main reason for going to war – has falsely insisted that Tehran had never done so before.
The accord establishes an immediate halt to hostilities and sets a 60-day negotiating window to address unresolved issues, including Iran’s nuclear program and the scope of sanctions relief.
Obama’s pact was a finished, detailed document titled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that extended to more than 160 pages. It was narrowly focused on restricting Iran’s nuclear activities, with strict benchmarks.
Trump, who condemned the Obama-era deal as “horrible”, scrapped it in 2018.
Obama’s deal placed tight limits on Iran’s efforts to produce weapons-grade uranium, aimed at extending the “breakout” time it would need to produce a bomb. The US government said Tehran had complied until Trump withdrew from the JCPOA.
The “memorandum of understanding” Trump signed with Iran isn’t a final deal, but rather a one-and-a-half-page, 14-point framework that was negotiated on and off over several weeks.
It has launched a 60-day negotiation period to seek a full settlement of the nearly four-month war, with many hurdles yet to overcome on issues that include Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief, and the future of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s interim deal outlines only a general path toward curbing Iran’s nuclear activities, with no specific commitments from Tehran other than to discuss nuclear issues in the 60-day window. Obama’s JCPOA involved extensive international inspection, but the MOU does not call for any future reinstatement of that process.
Trump’s memorandum front-loads initial relief, including immediate US waivers for Iran to export oil, while leaving a final package to be negotiated later. It also opens the door to releasing billions of dollars in frozen funds, and it is unclear when that might happen.
Trump criticized Obama for years over the Democratic president’s decision to return $1.7 billion to Tehran from arms sales proceeds that had frozen since 1981.
Trump’s memorandum offers early relief, with immediate US waivers allowing Iran to export oil, while leaving the final deal for later negotiations. It also paved the way for releasing $27 billion in frozen funds and provides a $300 billion payoff to Iran for economic development, backed by the US and Middle Eastern allies, but it is vague about the conditions and timetable.
Trump’s interim deal to end the Iran war met scorching public criticism from Republicans on Capitol Hill.
One Republican senator called the framework pact the “worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” another said provisions seemed “ill-advised,” and some pro-Republican commentators also broke with Trump over the agreement.
“Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future,” wrote Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
The criticism marked a rare pushback from Republican Party members who have generally acquiesced to the president but are growing uneasy as the economic fallout from the Iran conflict threatens their chances in the November midterm elections, which determine control of Congress. Democrats, hoping to reclaim majorities one or both chambers, also voiced their disapproval of the agreement.
The JCPOA dealt only with nuclear issues, a deliberate choice by the Obama administration, which calculated that bundling in other regional concerns would make a final deal impossible.
The MOU, however, is the diplomatic starting point for permanently ending a war that Trump launched with Israel on February 28, and which has sent shockwaves across the world economy.
As a result, one of its main thrusts is an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil-shipping channel which Iran effectively closed. Iran has insisted it retain a management role over the strait that it lacked pre-war, and that could be a sticking point in negotiations.
Khamenei concluded his message by calling on the Iranian nation to await the fulfillment of the conditions outlined in the agreement. “From this moment on, we—that is, you, the proud nation, and this humble servant—will await the realization of the aforementioned conditions,” he wrote.
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