Iran's president warned of deepening crises as hopes for US talks fade

Since his election, President Masoud Pezeshkian has faced attacks from hardliners, and now Reformist allies warn he could lose more public support if he fails to ease hardships from US sanctions.

Reformist figures, including political commentators Abbas Abdi and Ahmad Zeidabadi, have repeatedly urged Pezeshkian to initiate negotiations with the United States to ease or lift sanctions. Calls for diplomacy grew louder in the media after US President Donald Trump stated earlier this week that he was ready to meet his Iranian counterpart.

This may shift after Khamenei’s February 7 speech, where he rejected talks with Washington and warned that Iran would respond to threats in kind. A relative media blackout in Iran on Friday suggested a changing landscape. Still, warnings to Pezeshkian remain relevant.

In one of the latest warnings, Abdi wrote in Etemad newspaper that Pezeshkian risks losing public trust if he fails to uphold his promises. Citing an example, Abdi noted that Pezeshkian has yet to deliver on his pledge to lift internet restrictions. He warned that "soon, Iranians will no longer need filter-breakers (VPNs), thanks to Elon Musk’s help."

Abdi also noted that "public trust in Pezeshkian’s administration was low from the outset, as many believed that meaningful change was unlikely under the current political structure. They were convinced that achieving anything effective was nearly impossible."

In Iran, references to phrases like “the current political structure” are widely understood to imply that Khamenei, as the ultimate decision-maker, opposes opening up to the West and abandoning his nuclear ambitions.

Two weeks ago, when Khamenei appeared to signal approval for talks with Washington, Zeidabadi criticized Pezeshkian for his inaction. "What are you waiting for? Why don’t you pick up the phone and call Trump?" he asked. Zeidabadi was not alone—many centrist and pro-reform politicians in Iran also urged Pezeshkian to take the initiative and reach out to Trump.

With Khamenei's hardline stance, calls for rapprochement with Washington are unlikely to persist, at least for now. However, since Khamenei cannot be openly criticized or challenged, the press and politicians will likely shift back to blaming the Pezeshkian administration for inaction and inefficiency in improving people's lives.

Even in his Friday speech, Khamenei assigned Pezeshkian the task of fixing the country's economic problems—as if unaware that without resolving Iran’s biggest foreign policy issue with the United States, any economic improvement is unlikely. This has been evident since 2018 when Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal after Tehran refused to address broader US concerns over its regional activities.

Abbas Abdi in turn called on Pezeshkian "to be honest with the people as honesty is the only remedy for distrust."

The challenge for Pezeshkian is that he cannot openly admit to the public that his ability to fix the economy is severely limited or point to Khamenei’s hardline stance as the root of their hardships.

According to Etemad in its introduction to Abdi’s article, "public trust in Pezeshkian has significantly declined since September, and his popularity has suffered due to his failure to fulfill his promises." Abdi warned that "if Pezeshkian cannot deliver meaningful progress by the Iranian New Year in late March, he will have little time to recover what he has lost."

Abdi and several other commentators argue that Pezeshkian has raised public expectations for lifting sanctions and improving the economy, making it his biggest challenge alongside ongoing energy shortages. Etemad reported that "a September poll found that 59 percent of Iranians considered lifting sanctions their top priority."

Since Tehran’s media is unlikely to criticize Khamenei for his hardline speech on Friday, state television instead praised him and his threats against the United States. Meanwhile, print media is left with only one option—criticizing Pezeshkian while avoiding any mention of Khamenei’s role in the economic crisis.

This comes as hardline former Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli told the press on Friday that "Iran's situation is currently far more complicated than in November 2019," when one of the largest protests in the country's history left around 1,500 dead, according to some reports.