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A senior Iranian lawmaker is facing potential prosecution and dismissal after going on state television to reveal what he said were confidential letters from the office of the supreme leader regarding ongoing negotiations with the United States. The episode has laid bare tensions within Iran's leadership and raised questions about the direction of the nuclear talks.
Mahmoud Nabavian, deputy chair of Iran's national security council and a member of parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the claims during an interview on the Khabar Network, a state-affiliated broadcaster, according to reports from The Guardian and the Jerusalem Post.
Nabavian said he had seen correspondence written by Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in which the ayatollah allegedly expressed opposition to the terms of a memorandum of understanding with Washington. The broadcast was cut short, and the archive of the interview was later removed, with a senior official at the broadcaster resigning, as reported by The Guardian.
Coverage Comparison
The controversy was reported by both The Guardian, a UK-based nonprofit news outlet, and the Jerusalem Post, an Israeli-owned publication. While both accounts agree on the central facts, their framing differs.
The Guardian's coverage emphasizes the political fallout and the fractures within Iran's government, describing Nabavian as a "hardliner" and "leaker" and noting that his actions "revealed tensions at the top of government in near real time." The outlet also highlighted that the episode shows the supreme leader has been more directly involved in the talks than previously known.
The Jerusalem Post, which covers the region from an Israeli perspective, focused more on the content of the alleged letters, detailing Khamenei's stated conditions for negotiations, including preserving Iran's right to enrich uranium and maintaining full sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. The outlet also noted that Nabavian's remarks were cut off and that the broadcaster's public relations department announced legal action against him.
Both sources agree that Nabavian's claims have been disputed, with a spokesperson for the negotiating team dismissing them as "old and distorted," according to The Guardian.
Key Claims
Nabavian claimed that the supreme leader's letters, dated April 5, April 19, and May 24, outlined 11 conditions for continuing negotiations with the US, according to both The Guardian and the Jerusalem Post. These conditions reportedly included:
- Preserving Iran's right to enrich uranium, a position that Nabavian said contradicted the current talks.
- Lifting sanctions and releasing Iran's frozen assets.
- Receiving compensation from the US, as reported by The Guardian.
- Exercising full sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, with Khamenei allegedly rejecting even shared control with Oman, despite ongoing discussions between the two countries' foreign ministries, per the Jerusalem Post.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Saeed Ajorloo, an Iranian political analyst involved in the negotiations, claimed Nabavian had sent a distorted version of the texts and omitted 17 other letters allegedly written by Khamenei.
According to The Guardian, Nabavian said Khamenei had written a letter to President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday, stating his views on the negotiations. This has been reported by one outlet and not independently confirmed.
Perspectives
The episode illustrates divergent views within Iran's political establishment. Nabavian, who is aligned with the hardline Paydari (Stability Front) faction, has presented himself as a guardian of the supreme leader's authority, alleging that negotiators overstepped their mandate. His critics, however, accuse him of leaking classified information for political gain.
The Guardian notes that members of the camp of Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator at talks in Switzerland, have called for the "leaker" to be identified. Centrists and reformists have long argued that the state broadcaster Irib acts as an agent for hardliners, a charge the broadcaster denies.
A spokesperson for the negotiating team dismissed Nabavian's claims as outdated and distorted, suggesting that the letters, if genuine, may not reflect the current state of talks or may have been selectively presented.
The supreme leader has not been seen in public or issued an audio statement, operating instead through written statements, according to The Guardian. Some reports suggest the negotiating team has had to wait for his written directives, indicating a hands-on management style that was not previously known.