Iran should reach an agreement with the US to end the war because it cannot match American military strength and influence, a reformist politician has said.
Gholamhossein Karbaschi, a former mayor of Tehran, warned that a prolonged conflict would deepen domestic hardship.
“We cannot take on America’s power and diplomacy,” he said on Iranian state television late on Wednesday, criticising commentators who claim Tehran has defeated Washington while many citizens struggle.
“We must make a non-emotional assessment of the situation,” Mr Karbaschi said. He added that there was no clear end in sight and that officials should consider the consequences of continuing the conflict.
The war had weighed heavily on Iran’s roughly 90 million people, he said, with families unsure whether fighting would resume. “We were never volunteers for war,” he said.
He also criticised the Iranian attacks on three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, which he said had derailed the peace process and given Washington a pretext to breach the interim accord.
“If the Islamabad agreement had been implemented as it should have been, the incident involving the targeting of the three ships would not have happened,” he said. “We must distinguish between the reason for violating the agreement and a pretext for violating it.”
The attacks he was referring to appear to have occurred about 10 days after the US and Iran signed the Islamabad memorandum of understanding on June 17.
Mr Karbaschi said the interim agreement had been advantageous to Tehran and had surprised observers because Washington accepted its terms while Israel opposed them. He argued that the subsequent attacks on the ships gave the US an opportunity to breach the agreement.
He also questioned who had ordered the strikes, adding that nobody had publicly claimed responsibility.
“Everyone says, ‘We don’t know who attacked the three ships,’” he said. Referring to President Masoud Pezeshkian, he asked: “Can it be that the president doesn’t know?”
Mr Karbaschi's comments were reported by other media outlets on Thursday morning, including the Entekhab newspaper.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded sharply. Its spokesman, Hossein Mohebi, rejected suggestions that the attacks were unauthorised or carried out without the approval of senior officials.
Mr Mohebi described the strikes as a “decisive and crushing response” to what he called the third US breach of its commitments.
He accused Washington of breaking its commitments twice during negotiations and a third time after signing the memorandum.
“In the armed forces, no action is taken without observing the chain of command and co-ordinating with senior officials,” he was quoted as saying by the reformist Shargh newspaper on Thursday.