Review of speeches and negotiations between Iran and America in New York

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 Wednesday, 1 Mehr 1405, September 23, 2026. The annual session of the UN General Assembly, where the heads of various countries come and give speeches, began yesterday. Mr. Trump, who by General Assembly tradition naturally gave the first speech yesterday, devoted perhaps seven or eight minutes of his remarks to Iran and raised a number of points that there isn't time to go through here; you have surely followed them. Mr. Pezeshkian also spoke today.

0:59 You could say that in his speech Trump repeated his usual pattern: maximum threats in public and deal-oriented negotiation behind the scenes. He also referred to the US elections, something he has said many times in interviews even before yesterday's speech: that Iran won't reach an agreement before the elections because they think I'll take a hit there and lose, and so on. He stated that this doesn't matter to him at all and that he doesn't let the elections factor into this. But in fact this shows that domestic politics matters a great deal to him right now, and that he needs

1:59 a sellable victory before November 3, which is the US midterm election. All members of the House of Representatives and one third of the Senate are to be elected, and Trump needs this victory, whether military or through negotiations, especially since American voters are unhappy about the rise in gasoline and diesel prices in America and the inflation it has caused. On various issues, Trump's entry into this, and bringing America into this war, is something that a majority, perhaps 70 percent of people according to polls, don't like and don't want, and more than 60 percent also believe that Israel dragged America into this war.

3:00 As for Mr. Pezeshkian, you will surely see the various themes of his speech in the news yourselves. But in my view his speech as a whole can be categorized as addressed to three levels of audience. The first level was global. Here Mr. Pezeshkian tried to say that we are people of negotiation and diplomacy, emphasizing that we have no desire for nuclear weapons, but that we consider nuclear knowledge our right and will not back down. The second layer was addressed to the people of Iran, with his emphasis on independence, essentially that our only crime is that we want

3:57 to be independent, something Khamenei also used to say, and that we will defend ourselves and not surrender. These were themes he wanted to convey to all the people of Iran. And the third layer, I think, was the hardline factions of the regime. Through Mr. Araghchi's refusal to meet directly with Witkoff and Kushner, Trump's representatives, he wanted to satisfy this group as well, although it seems this decision had been made in Tehran. Even so, even this much, meaning indirect negotiations with

4:51 Qatari mediation between Mr. Araghchi and the Iranian delegation and Mr. Witkoff and Kushner, which reportedly lasted three hours, triggered a wave of opposition against Mr. Pezeshkian. Several IRGC publications attacked Mr. Pezeshkian, and perhaps more important than those was the statement of the Assembly of Experts published yesterday. It's really not clear what business the Assembly of Experts has issuing political statements, because by law it has one duty: if the Leader dies, resigns, or is removed, to elect a Leader, and to supervise the Leader's work. And it's not even clear who writes these statements in the name of the Assembly

5:48 of Experts or how they get approved. But several points in this statement play squarely into the hands of the hardliners. Among them: that understanding and agreement with America is simply impossible and the solution is jihad and resistance. It even stated, in one of its points, that talk of an honorable peace and a referendum of the people on continuing the war and the like, which has been raised in some places, amounts to "disturbing public opinion," and that the judiciary should go and deal with those who say such things. Another point emphasized that the internet must remain restricted,

6:43 and be restricted further. And the hijab, which is these gentlemen's obsession: they said once again that, in short, public culture, "nudity," and I don't know what other such words they use, must be dealt with, and so on. But the most interesting point in this statement is at the end, where it declares Trump and Netanyahu mahdur al-dam, meaning there is no problem if their blood is shed, it is forfeit, so to speak. And then it said that for anyone who has access, killing them is, in short, a religious obligation. That is, they have issued a fatwa for the killing and assassination of Mr. Trump and Netanyahu. So at a time when Mr. Pezeshkian insisted in his speech today that it is Trump who is the terrorist, and he calls us terrorists, and

7:39 that Netanyahu is the terrorist and so on, the statement of the Assembly of Experts officially calls the assassination of Trump and Netanyahu a religious obligation. Another interesting point is that after Mr. Pezeshkian's speech, some people on the hardline side of the factions actually praised, supported, and thanked him a great deal. Apart from Mr. Ghalibaf, who had greatly praised and complimented him, and who can be said to belong to the camp of the negotiators and peace-seekers, there was, for example, Alireza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran, who came out of the Paydari Front,

8:35 or Mohammad Mokhber, Raisi's former vice president and former head of the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order (Setad), or Hossein Mohebbi, the IRGC spokesman, and Ali Abdollahi, the head of the armed forces. These were among those who, in writing, and one of them, like Mr. Mohebbi, in speaking, greatly praised and complimented Mr. Pezeshkian's remarks. In any case, putting all of this together, I tried to see whether anything notable happened in these three-hour indirect negotiations, and it seems not. Its only advantage was that the door to dialogue reopened and a channel for talks was created; nothing else was achieved. Iran has already set seven conditions

9:34 and keeps saying it is waiting for America to respond. In short, from the developments of these two days at the United Nations, it seems this state of no war, no peace will continue. That is, probably until the US elections, this limbo for the country and this deplorable situation of both war and peace, or neither war nor peace, will continue, unless something extraordinary happens. In particular, we should wait, because tomorrow Mr. Netanyahu will give his speech, since Israel is also one pillar of this destructive and fruitless war. There is in fact a triangle in this war: Iran, America, and

10:31 Israel. So after Mr. Netanyahu's remarks, perhaps we can judge better. As for flights, which were cut off from many directions, many countries, after the US sanctions: still from Turkey, except of course Mahan Air. And China officially announced that it does not accept the sanctions, the US sanctions, and that the flights being made to China will continue. Currently, it's mainly Mahan Air that flies to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, with several flights a week.

11:27 Of course, a Chinese airline also has a couple of flights to Iran, but China has for now announced that it will not cut these off, and Chinese airports will continue to provide service to the Iranian airline in these three cities it flies to. Today was also the first of Mehr, and 16 million students went to school. There are the great difficulties parents face because of the high cost of stationery, bags, shoes, books, clothing and so on, which has been much discussed, the stagnation of the market for stationery sellers, and so on and so forth. And there is also the possibility that if the war intensifies, schools will close again and teaching will

12:25 go online. Moreover, today, on the first of Mehr, the memory of the innocent children of Minab, who were killed on the first day of the war in the American attack, was the most significant image before everyone's eyes. Mr. Karroubi has also published a letter addressed to the people of Iran. The key point of this letter is that he asked Pezeshkian to meet with Trump for a lasting peace. He also referred to a memory of his own: when he met with three American senators, Khamenei objected, and he replied, telling Khamenei that when a country has a rich and strong culture, it is not afraid of dialogue.