How does Iran’s leadership view the emerging deal with the US?

Tehran, Iran – Iran’s leadership has not closed the door on a potential deal with the United States, but more hawkish voices on both sides are pushing for demands that are making any understanding elusive .

More than three months after the start of the war, Washington and Tehran are yet to agree on how to handle international transit through the Strait of Hormuz following Iran’s insistence on controlling the waterway and the US blockade of Iran’s ports. It is also unclear if the two sides can reach a longer-term deal on nuclear enrichment and the buried highly enriched uranium in Iran, or on the lifting of US and United Nations sanctions on Iran.

The US military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been trading fire over recent days, with Tehran accusing Washington of repeated violations of the ceasefire reached in early April. Israeli media reported online that an explosion on Sunday night in an apartment building in Tehran’s Andisheh was a targeted assassination of an IRGC general, but the Iranian media said it was a gas leak.

Iran’s top military, religious and political leaders and institutions continue to emphasise that there will be no “surrender” amid deep distrust towards the US , but subtle differences between their postures persist.

The son of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was selected to helm the theocratic and military establishment shortly after reportedly being wounded in the same strikes that killed his father and other family members.

He has not been seen or heard from publicly except for written messages attributed to him, amid concerns that he is a potential target for assassination by the US and Israel. He does not enjoy the same level of clout as his father, who held absolute power for nearly 37 years, but by law, his approval is required for key decisions.

In the messages, Khamenei has not cast himself as anti-talks, but has stressed that “the bright future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without the US and in service of progress, calm and welfare for its nations”.

He has also referred to Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes as “national assets” to be guarded just like territorial borders; asked supporters and armed forces to keep taking to the streets every night in protest against the US and Israel; and signalled that he expects sanctions against Iran to remain in place by calling for the country to be prepared for another year of a “resistance economy”.