Iran president says time to end war while in position of strength
Talks between the longtime foes remain on hold, and the war started by the US and Israel in February has been locked in a stalemate
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday it was time to end the months-long Middle East war with the United States because Tehran appeared to be in a stronger position than Washington.
Talks between the longtime foes remain on hold, and the war started by the US and Israel in February has been locked in a stalemate.
Tehran is keeping the key Strait of Hormuz partially shut and Washington is persisting with a naval counter-blockade of Iran.
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"It is better that we bring the war to an end now as we are in a position of power and dignity," Pezeshkian said in a meeting with doctors.
"The whole world acknowledges our victory and emphasises that America has attacked our schools, hospitals and infrastructure in violation of all regulations and is hated around the world."
Pezeshkian also defended a memorandum of understanding agreed with the US in June aimed at ending the war, insisting it did not signal a defeat for Tehran.
"They cannot find even a single clause in this agreement that indicates capitulation. All the commitments concern the other side," he said.
His remarks came weeks after Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said he had approved the deal to end the war despite having "different views".
Hardline lawmakers in Iran's parliament have criticised the government over the deal, accusing it of giving concessions to the US, mostly over the re-opening of Hormuz.
According to reports in US media, the American navy has been organising and protecting secret convoys of tankers through the southern sector of the strait, enabling between five and 10 million barrels a day of oil to be exported.
Tehran's claims to be in the stronger position followed a US announcement that it would ramp up sanctions to heap pressure on the Islamic republic.
The American plan drew condemnation from Iran's foreign ministry, which accused the US of "economic terrorism", adding the "instigators of these sanctions are deserving of trial and punishment".
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday vowed Washington would "collapse" the Iranian regime with its threatened sanctions campaign.
The comments underscored how the Trump administration is shifting to economic rather than military pressure on Tehran as the US president's unpopular war nears the six-month mark.
'Economic D-Day'
China also criticised the administration's economic plan, after Washington had urged it and other governments to join its efforts to isolate the Iranian economy.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Friday that "sanctions and pressure will not help resolve the issue".
"China calls on all relevant parties to take responsible measures and resolve the problem through political and diplomatic means," he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to visit the White House on 24 September, with the topic of Iran sure to come up, as it did when Trump travelled to Beijing for a summit in May.
Bessent said the plan to ramp up economic sanctions against Iran meant Washington was less likely to have to return to heavy military operations against the country.
The US Treasury chief said he would give further details of the measures during a press conference on Monday.
Other senior Iranian officials have brushed off the US plan.
"The so-called 'Economic D-Day' is a diversion from America's own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X.
The US also slapped new sanctions on the Lebanese movement Hezbollah on Thursday, saying it operated in "service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps".
Hezbollah, which is armed and funded by Tehran, said Friday that "unjust sanctions and classifications will not deter us from adhering to the path of resistance" against Israel.
The American decision comes as the US facilitates direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon - technically at war for decades - to end hostilities that erupted when Hezbollah entered the Middle East war by launching rockets at Israel in support of its backer Iran.
