Iran’s State-Censored Media on Saudi Mediation Between Tehran and Washington

While Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman appears to be conveying a message from Iranian leadership to President Donald J. Trump, public statements by Iranian officials do not suggest any significant shift in Tehran’s positions on key strategic issues.

• November 19: In a major interview with centrist Khabar Online, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said:
  • “We will by no means accept zero enrichment, because it has become a matter of national honor and pride. We have paid enormous material and moral costs for it, and we have sacrificed numerous nuclear martyrs to preserve it … any agreement aimed at reducing nuclear enrichment to zero would be considered a betrayal, and we will not submit to it.”
• November 19: Kamal Kharazi, director of the Strategic Foreign Relations Council, said in an exclusive interview with CNN, as reported by technocratic Sazandegi:
  • “Iran will not halt uranium enrichment, although the level of enrichment could be subject to negotiation with the United States and others … Iran will not negotiate over its missile program.”
  • “We do not recognize the Israeli state, because it was established through the occupation of others’ land. However, if the Palestinian side decides to establish a Palestinian state, we have no objection.”
  • Kharazi said that if President Donald J. Trump “adopts a positive approach, we will reciprocate. But to do so, he must refrain from using force against Iran. He has tried that before and has realized that force is ineffective.”
• November 20: Reformist Etemad wrote about potential Saudi mediation between Iran and the United States:
  • “On Monday night, news came that President Masoud Pezeshkian’s letter addressed to the Saudi crown prince had been delivered to the officials of that country. Although some government officials tried to downplay the importance of the contents of the president’s letter to a dry and purely formal expression of gratitude, the analytical and media atmosphere indicates that something more significant is embedded in Pezeshkian’s message to Riyadh. This reality was also evident during the Trump-Mohammed bin Salman meeting, in which both sides repeatedly spoke about the need to end the standoff between Iran and the United States and reach an agreement.”
• November 20: An analysis published by reformist Shargh claimed the United States has chosen a policy toward Iran resembling former President Ronald Reagan’s policy toward the Soviet Union:
  • “Unlike in 2018, when the strategy of ‘maximum pressure’ was pursued with the goal of rapid economic collapse, Trump’s current approach bears a striking resemblance to Reagan’s policies toward the Soviet Union in the 1980s. In this model, the aim is neither necessarily a hot war nor regime change through a coup. Rather, the goal is to draw the opponent to the negotiating table in a way that the outcome becomes ‘internal transformation.’”
  • “Strategic analysts believe that Trump wants to subject Iran to a process of attrition by combining ‘smart economic pressure’ with ‘open diplomatic channels.’ In this scenario, any future agreement would be designed so that, for Iran to benefit economically, it would have no choice but to accept standards that contradict its ideological nature and revolutionary structure. A controlled opening toward interaction with the West is precisely the Achilles’ heel that, in Trump’s team’s view, could activate what they call ‘Iran’s internal contradictions’ and trigger a project of ‘soft collapse.’”
• November 20: Criticizing unnamed Iranian “cheerleaders of Mohammed bin Salman,” hard-line Kayhan, in an editorial, rhetorically asked:
  • “Does Trump see Saudi Arabia and, more broadly, the wealthy oil-producing countries of the region as ‘milking cows’ or not? Has he not repeatedly said that he sees the leaders of these countries as sources of money and that they must be milked? The answers to these questions are obvious – a simple search will show them. Now our pro-Western friends should explain … Do you mean that we should pour $1 trillion into Trump’s pocket? If yes, then does that mean you enjoy being milked so much?”
  • “There are also those who claim Saudi Arabia is about to convey Iran’s message to the United States … Can’t you think of anything but negotiations?”

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