Iran's response to the US in five headlines: Trump's trip and China's role

What he says

An English translation of the talk, which is in Persian. It was made with AI from YouTube's automatic captions and may contain errors; the Persian transcript is authoritative. Click a timestamp to jump to that part of the video.

0:01 Hello. It is Monday, 21 Ordibehesht 1405, May 11, 2026. First, let me apologize for not being able to be with you on Friday as usual. Finally, after perhaps a week of waiting and of "today or tomorrow," Iran's response to the American plan, which was said to be one page, 27 lines and 14 articles, and so on, was delivered to the United States through Pakistan on Sunday. In this response, Iran has apparently said, first, that there must be a ceasefire and an end to the regional war, and that negotiations for now should focus on stopping the fighting. Second, the reopening

1:03 of, or safe passage through, the Strait of Hormuz, which it has proposed within the framework of a temporary understanding. Third, the lifting of sanctions, the lifting of the naval blockade of Iran's ports and shipping, and the release of Iran's frozen assets. Fourth, war reparations from America have been raised. Fifth, after these four parts, on Iran's nuclear program, it has said it is ready to negotiate, and that dilution of the enriched uranium or its transfer abroad, for example to Russia, is possible, but it is not willing to completely dismantle its nuclear

1:58 facilities, which is what America is demanding. Mr. Trump, of course, has said this has become one of the main conditions. As soon as he received this response, Mr. Trump apparently said, "I didn't even read it to the end; it is a garbage response." In various interviews and on his own Truth Social he wrote that it is not acceptable at all and that he did not even read it to the end. Mr. Trump again emphasized limiting Iran's nuclear program and removing the enriched uranium. He also claimed that Iran had said certain things before, but now that it has put things in writing, it has taken back its word. Apparently, what

2:57 Mr. Asim Munir, the head of Pakistan's army, who is in contact with Trump, had told Mr. Trump was that Iran had accepted that the enriched uranium would be taken out of Iran. And Mr. Trump, who cannot hold his tongue, had more or less said this over the past few days. Now, whether Mr. Asim Munir told the truth or lied, whether Iran changed its position, or whether he failed to mention that before the so-called removal of the uranium Iran has four other conditions, which appear in this Iranian proposal, and that Iran has said those must be carried out first before we get to this point, is unclear. In any case, indirect negotiations and passing messages back and forth have these problems. At any rate, it seems that

3:59 we are once again entering a phase of tension. It has been announced that tomorrow, Tuesday, Mr. Trump will hold a meeting of the US National Security Council at the White House. The secretary of state and the national security adviser, who are now one person, Mr. Marco Rubio, holding both posts, as well as the secretary of defense, the CIA director, the vice president, and General Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, are the people who are said to definitely be attending. This meeting is to decide what to do about Iran's response. It seems the most likely outcome is that they decide both to

5:00 continue the naval blockade of Iran and to resume "Project Freedom," which Trump had announced for opening the Strait of Hormuz and which the Pakistanis asked him to halt. If Iran then wants to retaliate and prevent ships from being escorted through the Strait of Hormuz by force by the US Navy, the likelihood of clashes and war rises again. Of course, the Islamic Republic has shown that in such situations it intensifies its attacks on the Arab countries on the southern shore of the Persian Gulf, especially the United Arab Emirates, but it is possible that this time the Americans, too,

5:56 with their navy, will actually prevent this, which would further increase tensions. Mr. Netanyahu has also commented, saying that any negotiation must result in the complete removal of the 400 kilos of enriched uranium from Iran and a halt to uranium enrichment. It is said that Mr. Trump also spoke with Netanyahu by phone after receiving Iran's proposal and probably informed him of what Iran's response was. One point that can be raised in the continuation of this ping-pong diplomacy is that on Wednesday

6:52 Mr. Trump is in fact leaving for Beijing for two days of talks, on Thursday and Friday, with Mr. Xi Jinping, the president of China, at the highest level between the two countries. Earlier, Mr. Bessent, the US treasury secretary, went to the region and traveled to Korea and Japan, and a so-called expert delegation enters China on Wednesday to prepare the groundwork for the talks and probably documents to be signed. But two or three points are the main points said to be raised in this meeting between the world's top two economic powers. The first is the issue of tariffs, as there has been a kind of trade war between America and China that has still not been resolved. The second is the issue of Taiwan, which China has always

7:51 insisted must return to China, and which America opposes and has stood firm on. The third is the issue of Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf, and the war of America and Israel against Iran, which has been sharply added to the issues between the two countries, especially since China is the largest buyer of Iran's oil and also a major importer of oil from the other Middle Eastern countries, and on the other hand has close relations with Iran. Last week Mr. Araghchi traveled to China, and there he probably discussed and exchanged views on Iran's issues and positions, and the Americans will probably also ask China to use its influence and in fact

8:44 bring Iran to the negotiating table the way the Americans want. In any case, this is another one of the issues. Meanwhile, Russia, for its part, has stated that a ceasefire in Ukraine is near. Various reasons have been given, including that Russian military casualties have risen very high, and after three-plus years of war Mr. Putin is apparently agreeing to end this war. Whether it ends in Ukraine's favor, or how, is not clear, but since Russia is also one of the Islamic Republic's backers, freeing itself from Ukraine will also affect Middle East issues.

9:46 But with the intensification of the execution machine in the Islamic Republic, the world's attention has once again been drawn to this violence, intimidation, repression, and execution. In 2024 there were 975 executions in Iran, while in 2025 this number reached 1,639 people, a 68 percent increase over the previous year; on average, four people a day were executed in Iran. But in the first three months of 2026, that is, through the end of March, the number of executions has reached 657. Although the government does not release official statistics, human rights organizations,

10:44 based on the information they have gathered, say this figure may even have reached 700 or 800. If we take the same 657, that means seven people a day were executed in Iran. Although, for example, in 2025, according to statistics the government itself released, some of those executed were prisoners sentenced to so-called qisas for murder or for drugs, 1,542 of them were in these categories, at least 97 were political and security prisoners in 2025. And of the 657 executions in three months, according to the reports being heard, perhaps nearly a third or half of those executed

11:45 may have been political or security prisoners. In any case, this naked violence and activating the execution machine in this way is part of the nature of the Islamic Republic regime and the approach it has always believed in: that resorting to violence, intimidating people, and repression works for it and lets it stay on the throne. Narges Mohammadi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who had been transferred from Zanjan prison to a hospital because of severe heart problems, was reported to have been moved to the CCU of a hospital in Tehran. Her son, Ali Rahmani, who heads the Narges Foundation, has said that we

12:44 demand the release of our mother, given the various illnesses she has and the years she has spent in prison under such pressure. In hope of victory for Iran and Iranians.