The president’s UN visit has exposed a dispute in Tehran over who can negotiate, when talks should take place and what Iran must secure.
By The Levant Files Editorial Team
Masoud Pezeshkian arrives in New York as Iran and the United States exchange messages through mediators. His UN visit raises a question that is also being contested in Tehran: who can negotiate an end to the war, and how much room does the president have to act?
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that the delegation in New York has authority to revive diplomacy. According to the official, Tehran sent a proposal to Washington through mediators on 16 September and could discuss an end to hostilities during the UN gathering. The official ruled out a meeting between Pezeshkian and President Donald Trump.
That distinction matters in Tehran. Talks through intermediaries give Iranian officials room to explore an agreement. A meeting between the presidents would make Pezeshkian personally identified with the initiative—and exposed to criticism if it failed.
Who Sets The Terms?
Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has defended negotiations while laying down conditions for them. In a speech published by Tasnim, he warned that rejecting diplomacy altogether could prolong the war. He also rejected what he described as acceptance of one-sided American demands. In Ghalibaf’s account, Iran should negotiate when it can turn gains on the battlefield into political gains.
As Tasnim reported, Ghalibaf said Iran had already conveyed its conditions through mediators. He linked a return to the previous situation in the Strait of Hormuz to recognition of Iranian rights and fulfilment of US commitments. In a second speech, also reported by Tasnim, Ghalibaf described negotiation as a way to convert wartime strength into a political result.
His position complicates any simple division between reformists seeking talks and conservatives opposing them. Ghalibaf, a powerful conservative, supports diplomacy under strict conditions. The disagreement is over who defines those conditions, when negotiation becomes useful and who has the authority to conclude it.
How Far Can Pezeshkian Go?
Some reformist figures want the president to go further in New York. Reformist politician Gholamhossein Karbaschi told Roozno that he would meet Trump, despite the potential political cost, if it could help resolve the crisis. Former parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karroubi, according to Euronews Persian, urged Pezeshkian to meet the US president if conditions allowed constructive talks toward a lasting peace. Their appeals show what they want Pezeshkian to do; they do not show that a meeting has been authorised.
Reformist commentator Ahmad Zeidabadi wrote in remarks carried by Roozno that opponents had insulted and threatened Pezeshkian over the trip and obstructed diplomatic initiatives. Those are Zeidabadi’s accusations. They show how heated the public argument has become, but do not establish who is directing the attacks or what mandate Pezeshkian holds behind closed doors.
The New York Test
Contact with Washington is continuing. As Euronews Persian reported, US envoy Steve Witkoff said American representatives had held extended exchanges with the Iranian delegation through intermediaries on Tuesday. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson identified Qatar as the intermediary. Neither side announced an agreement.
The senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if Washington eased military pressure and lifted its blockade of Iranian ports. That is a possible sequence proposed by the Iranian side, not an agreed timetable.
Pezeshkian’s UN speech will give Iran a global platform. The more difficult test is whether the exchanges in New York produce terms Washington will accept and Tehran’s competing centres of power will support. Ghalibaf’s speeches set out the conditions a deal would have to satisfy. Reformist appeals press Pezeshkian to seize the opportunity now. His visit may reveal how far the delegation’s authority extends when those positions have to become a decision.
Photo:AI
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