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Pezeshkian urges unity
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned Monday against messages that could fuel division inside Iran during his first remarks after the start of US-Iran talks in Switzerland.
“Every message that leads to division and discord serves the enemy”
In a speech in Tehran, Pezeshkian said the Iranian negotiating delegation joined the talks with the US in Switzerland "without offering any concessions," and he added, "Every message that leads to division and discord serves the enemy," as he addressed domestic criticism of the negotiations.
Pezeshkian said, "Iran would not back down if the other side ignored its rights during the negotiations," and he cited that the US had stepped back on the Lebanon file in response to an Iranian request during the talks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said early Monday that negotiations with the US in Switzerland facilitated by Pakistan and Qatar produced "significant progress" toward ending the war in Lebanon and easing pressure on Iran's economy.
Internal debate over talks
A warning by Iranian President Masoud Bezhskian that "any positions that lead to internal division and disagreements will serve the enemy" was framed by Al-Jazeera Net as coming at a sensitive moment when understandings with America became a matter of contention within institutions of governance.
The same Al-Jazeera Net account said Bezhskian linked internal discord to what he described as the enemy's interest, adding that "any message that smells of division moves in the direction that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the CIA want."
It also described a dispute over interpretation of a Leader’s message, including the phrase "in principle, I had another view," and it said supporters read the authorization as political cover while critics saw it as evidence of conditional acceptance.
The Al-Jazeera Net piece further said Deputy Mahmoud Nabavian criticized the understanding as a repetition of the 2015 nuclear deal, calling it a "pure loss," and warning that Hormuz Strait management could be affected and that American and UN sanctions would not be actually lifted.
War coverage and stakes
The BBC described how Iranian television networks, especially IRIB News Channel One and Channel Two, covered events since the start of Israel and the United States' attacks on Iran on February 28, focusing on retaliatory operations and warnings of broader regional unrest.
“Iran's television on February 28 described the attacks, as analysts had said, as Washington's betrayal in the talks with Iran”
After the confirmation of Ali Khamenei's death on March 1, the BBC said state television shifted to a mourning atmosphere with anchors wearing black, and it reported that the country remains largely under a near-total internet shutdown for the second time this year.
The BBC said coverage largely avoided reporting on bombed military areas inside Iran, while it highlighted the attack on a girls' primary school in Minab, a city in southern Iran, where more than 160 people, mostly children, were killed.
In a separate account, Javan Online quoted Colonel Douglas McGregor saying, "The president is likely seeking a rapid "hit-and-run" operation; but with regard to Iran there is no such thing as a rapid operation," and it added his warning that if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, "gasoline prices in the U.S. market will have no ceiling."
