The last opportunity for the president is revealed: Behind the scenes of Mojtaba Khamenei's final days
Drama in Iran: A close associate of Mojtaba Khamenei revealed the ongoing confrontation between him and the Iranian president. The desire to resign and the backing down - new details from the last few days about the Supreme Leader of Iran, who has not yet been seen alive.
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, sent a firm message to President Masoud Pezeshkian, warning him that if he submits his resignation once more, it will be accepted immediately. This emerges from a video that caused a storm in the Iranian political system, in which a relative of the Supreme Leader reveals the behind-the-scenes of the top-level conflicts in Tehran.
According to a report by the "Iran International" network, Mohammad-Baqer Kharazi, a senior cleric whose sister is married to Khamenei's brother, claimed that Pezeshkian threatened to resign no less than 28 times. The series of threats stopped only after Khamenei gave the president a clear ultimatum.
"If he resigns one more time, I will approve it. I will write 'approved' at the bottom of the document, and that will be the end of the matter," Kharazi quoted the Supreme Leader as saying, adding that now "Pezeshkian no longer dares. Everyone has backed down."
The background to the tension, as reported as early as the end of last May, lies in an official resignation letter that Pezeshkian submitted to Khamenei's office. The president claimed then that his government is excluded from making essential decisions, while radical factions in the Revolutionary Guards have completely taken over the management of state affairs. He explained that he is unable to fulfill his constitutional duties and asked to leave his position immediately.
The President's office rushed to strongly deny the remarks. Mahdi Tabatabai, Deputy Minister for Communications and Information Affairs in the President's office, called Kharazi's claims "a complete lie and baseless." In a tweet he published on the X network, Tabatabai wrote: "A malicious alliance of instigators and fraudsters, supporters of extremism and incompetence, has set itself the goal of harming national unity. Two years after their defeat at the polls, they are still seeking revenge against the will of the people and have become puppets on a string of Iran's enemies."
Another advisor to the president, Ali-Asghar Shafian, also rejected the report and clarified that the cleric Kharazi has not met with Khamenei at all and is not in contact with him. According to Shafian, this is an attempt to create rumors stemming from the anger of conservative factions over the "memorandum of understanding" signed between Iran and the United States on June 17. Another reformist activist, Ahmad Zeidabadi, noted that these are claims intended solely to inflame passions during an already tense period.
Beyond the issue of the president, the "Iran International" network reported that Kharazi provided additional leaks. According to him, Khamenei plans to dismiss the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Mohammad-Baqer Zolqadr — who was appointed to his position last March after the death of Ali Larijani during the war — and replace him with his military advisor, Mohsen Rezaee. At the same time, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi allegedly received a severe warning not to intervene in political negotiations under any circumstances.
The current confrontation reveals a glimpse of the intensifying struggle between Pezeshkian's allies and the radical stream in Iran, especially around the approval of the agreement with Washington. This agreement, according to sources in the administration, required by Khamenei's order an exceptional support of 75% of the members of the National Security Council — a threshold that was reached, but left behind a trail of bloody political rivalries in the corridors of power.
