The New York Times: Ahmadinejad and his secret dealings with Israel and the US

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. Wednesday, 30 Ordibehesht 1405, May 20, 2026. Mr. Mohsen Naqvi, Pakistan's interior minister, went to Tehran again today. After his previous three or four-day trip to Tehran, his return to Tehran is said to be connected to the negotiations between Iran and America nearing, so to speak, their final stage. Al-Hadath has reported that an agreement between Tehran and Washington might be announced even in the coming hours. Axios has also stated that the end

0:56 of the war is near, and that under the so-called agreement now taking shape, the war will end and a 30-day window will be set aside for nuclear negotiations and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. JD Vance, the US vice president, also said at a press conference last night that they had come close to an agreement, but said that until something is signed, nothing can be said for certain. Today, Wednesday, Mr. Trump, as usual, again played both sides. He said, "I'll wait another day or two, and if they don't sign, we will, in short, kill people

1:55 and strike people." He said this both in an interview and in a speech: that we will attack again. In response, on the Iranian side, the IRGC issued a statement and flexed its muscles, saying that if war resumes, it will spread beyond the region. Many believe that closing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait will be put on the agenda. Mr. Ghalibaf also released a 12-minute audio message in which he said the enemy is preparing and we have prepared thoroughly as well, and he too made the usual threats. It also contains a political point: he attacked the opponents

2:51 of the government and of the negotiations, who are mainly the far-right faction, saying that this is contrary to national security and the interests of the country. Today, perhaps for the first or second time, US Marines boarded an oil tanker flying the Iranian flag in the Sea of Oman, seized it and changed its course, though they released the crew. CENTCOM also issued a statement saying they had done this as part of the naval blockade of Iran, and in short, that they take it seriously.

3:50 In any case, it is said that Mr. Mohsen Naqvi, Pakistan's interior minister, during the time he was back in Pakistan, spoke with both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and General Asim Munir, the Pakistani army chief, and has come back again. It is even said he may stay in Tehran until the final agreement is signed by both sides. Axios also reported that Mr. Trump had a lengthy phone conversation with Mr. Netanyahu in which he shared this progress and the signing of the so-called agreement with him, and according to Axios, Mr. Netanyahu was extremely angry and confused

4:51 and, in short, opposed to this agreement. Anyway, when we put all these reports together, perhaps the most realistic outcome is reflected in the oil market, because oil fell 5 percent today and reached $105 a barrel, which shows that the oil market, while paying attention to the possibility of peace and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, has acted very cautiously. But the other subject is the New York Times report that Ahmadinejad had been considered by Israel and America

5:51 to be brought out of house arrest after Khamenei was killed—if such house arrest was even real at all. They struck his guards and so on so that Ahmadinejad could come out and become Iran's Mrs. Rodríguez and, in effect, take power. It is a very strange report, because it is based on sources who did not want their names revealed, and in short it is not backed by precise information. It also seems more likely that the New York Times' sources were Israelis rather than Iranian sources, and

6:44 this report is mostly useful for putting Ahmadinejad, who was known for Holocaust denial and for being an enemy calling for Israel's destruction and so on, under attack inside Iran. But what is true, and what can be said, is that about four or five years ago it was heard that Ahmadinejad had sent someone to Bahrain, where there is an American naval base, to talk with the Americans. Apparently an officer in the naval intelligence branch there received Ahmadinejad's message, which his intermediary had carried, and in that message Ahmadinejad had said that Iran will soon, in short, collapse like

7:40 the Soviet Union, and that he is ready to become Iran's Yeltsin. This was true, and it was after that, when the Ministry of Intelligence learned of it, that it restricted Ahmadinejad and placed him under so-called control, so that there would be no such foreign dealings. Mr. Ahmadinejad also made a trip, right before this recent war, to Hungary, whose Mr. Orbán—who has now lost the election and is no longer prime minister—had close relations with Mr. Trump and Israel.

8:34 In any case, there is no doubt that Ahmadinejad would be willing to make a deal with anyone at all, worthy or not, in order to be in power. Besides, he has a gang of his own, and his gang has had some money and resources, although Khamenei himself, and especially Taeb and Mojtaba, severely restricted him. Just a few months ago they had even changed his protection team—protection that is, of course, in the hands of Ansar al-Mahdi, which is affiliated with the IRGC. Anyway, when we put all this together, one cannot really trust the New York Times report, but in any case, Ahmadinejad is someone who

9:34 seeks to get into power at any cost. Meanwhile, Mr. Pezeshkian said in a speech that people should know that we face limitations in supplying gasoline and energy carriers. It is said that out of the country's daily gasoline consumption of 125 to 130 million liters, there is a shortfall of 25 to 30 million liters, a shortfall that used to be made up by imports, and this shortfall has now carried over, in addition to the damage done to the energy sector, including the gas refineries in Asaluyeh, after Israel's attack on

10:32 the refineries in Asaluyeh, which destroyed perhaps 20 to 30 percent of them. Yesterday the Tehran Stock Exchange reopened after 80 days of closure, but the companies that had been damaged—petrochemical companies, steel companies and so on—were absent from the exchange. In terms of weight, effectively 40 percent of the exchange did not appear on the board. And an interesting point that other analysts have noticed is that the buying, so to speak the money that entered the exchange, came mainly from institutional players—that is, banks, companies and the like—not from individuals and

11:26 ordinary people. Anyway, the stock exchange in Iran, given the controls the regime exercises, is not an accurate indicator of the economic situation; it is not like elsewhere in the world. But a few days must pass before one can judge what the capital market's reaction will really be to the situation that has arisen, especially in the country's production sector. Mr. Putin's meeting with Xi, which was his twentieth meeting with the Chinese president, has also ended. The final statement, one could say, mostly contained points condemning America, such as condemning the open abduction of other countries' leaders, military adventurism, and the hypocritical use

12:27 of negotiations as a cover for attack, and things of that sort. Of course, the two leaders also had a clause on freedom of shipping and keeping trade routes open, which could refer to the Strait of Hormuz. And in Zanjan, when municipal workers had gathered in front of the municipality and the city council to protest their wages, as well as the discrimination practiced against them, the high salaries of their managers and so on, Mr. Mohammad Kazem Mojtahedi, a cleric member of the Zanjan city council, came out in his car, and when the workers surrounded his car, he said, "Get out of the way, or I'll run you over

13:23 and pay your blood money." And he did just that: he ran over a hardworking municipal street sweeper, injuring his leg, and the workers rushed to help him. In hope of victory for Iran and Iranians.