Iran hardliners cite Trump-Zelensky White House debacle to oppose talks

Iranian hardliners claim that Friday’s controversial meeting between the US and Ukrainian presidents validates Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s opposition to negotiations with the United States.

Referring to Khamenei’s early February speech, where he said negotiations with the Trump administration would not be “wise, expedient, or dignified,” they argue that Trump's confrontational exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office should serve as a warning to those who question Khamenei’s stance.

“Can an Iranian even imagine our president in Zelensky’s position?” Abdollah Ganji, a former editor of the IRGC-linked Javan newspaper, wrote in an X post, referencing Trump’s remark during the meeting that Zelensky was in no position to dictate terms because he didn’t have the right cards in hand.

Khamenei’s political adviser and former secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, shared photos of Khamenei’s June 2019 meeting with the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, during which Khamenei refused to accept a message Abe was delivering from Trump.

On social media, hardliners and ultra-hardliners have also extensively highlighted Khamenei’s warnings in the past about direct talks with the United States and his criticism of Trump for not abiding by the commitments the US had made in the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal and re-imposition of sanctions on Iran in 2018.

Incident disappoints advocates of talks with US

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a speech on Thursday that Tehran was open to talks with Washington but would not “bow to bullies.” However, he also stressed that without the lifting of US sanctions, there could be no economic improvement.

Following Friday’s Oval Office incident, some reformist politicians and commentators—who have generally supported direct talks with the United States—also voiced skepticism about the viability of negotiations with the Trump administration.

Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, a former vice president under reformist President Mohammad Khatami, dismissed negotiations with Trump as futile. “Trump and the America of Trump are not parties we can negotiate with,” he tweeted. “Imagine Pezeshkian sitting across from him—talking to this man won’t help the Iranian people.”

Reformist commentator Fayyaz Zahed condemned Trump’s public rebuke of Zelensky, likening it to “a return to the era of imperialism.” He remarked, “The real America is what we are witnessing.”

Former political prisoner Hossein Ronaghi's tweeted:

Calls for strategic decision-making

Despite the backlash, some Iranian analysts argue that the incident underscores the urgency of determining when and how to engage in negotiations with the US before Iran loses all bargaining power.

“The humiliating exchange between Zelensky and Trump proved that negotiations must happen while there are still cards left to play,” argued Diako Hosseini, a political commentator and deputy chairman of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, in an X post. “One should never enter talks under any other circumstances.”

In a lengthy thread, Mohammad Rahbari, another political commentator in Tehran, argued that the lesson Iran should take from the standoff between Trump and Zelensky for Iran is to look at international relations from a different perspective in the current circumstances. Warning against “obstinacy,” he argued that Iran should remain cautiously open to negotiations to avoid “falling victim to bigger powers.”

"Trump has not, and will not, pursue abstract goals... He knows how to calculate and knows numbers. Smart behavior towards him means proposals that are of mutual benefit, precise and clear!" Ali Asghar Sahfieian, managing director of the reformist news website Ensaf News, argued in a tweet.