You can read it in Arabic here, and check out MBN’s flagship Arabic-language Alhurra news platform (English version here).
This week’s edition of the briefing is a joint effort by our Iran reporter Tara Rad, who is writing under a pseudonym, and me.
Here’s what you need to know. Tehran claimed the U.S. midterms as its own victory. A statement attributed to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei called for meeting every threat with an immediate response without geographic limits. Iran hanged two teenaged men. A letter from U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance to Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei drew reactions about whether talks could restart, while the newspapers Jomhouri-e Eslami and Ettelaat both warned against letting hardliners block diplomacy. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran has no hostility toward the Gulf states, and a reformist former MP warned that Iran is drifting from “Islamic Japan” toward “Islamic Pyongyang.”
Find out more below, and share your thoughts, analysis and predictions with me at ailves@mbn-news.com. If you were forwarded the MBN Iran Briefing, please subscribe.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Every level and type of threat must be met with an immediate and effective response, without geographic limits.
—Statement attributed to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei
Executed: Amirhossein Maleki and Amirhossein Ebrahimi. Photo: Iranwire
TOP OF THE NEWS
Tehran Claims Victory in the U.S. Midterms
Even as U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance was posting on X yesterday that, “The reason we lost is the war,” Iranian social media and press were abuzz with their own analysis of the U.S. midterm elections.
If the outcome of the vote yielded surprises, the reaction from Tehran did not. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted on X that, “Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message.” Iranian media headlined Ghalibaf’s message as a “warning” to Washington and added: “Iran’s response will be decisive.”
On the eve of the vote, hardline newspaper Kayhan published a lengthy analysis that said it would be a mistake to think a Democratic victory in the midterm elections would be good news for Iran. As the newspaper put it, the Republican approach is “war and sanctions” and the Democratic approach is “negotiations and sanctions.”
In the days leading up to the U.S. vote, Iranian media highlighted a statement attributed to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in which he said, “Every level and type of threat must be met with an immediate and effective response, without geographic limits” and that the list of targets should be expanded.
The Regime Hangs Two Teenagers
On Tuesday, Iran hanged two teenaged men: Amirhossein Maleki, 19, and Amirhossein Ebrahimi, 18. The executions were part of the Alikhani Square case, in which the regime claims that four police officers were killed during the January protests. The total number of people executed in that case is now nine.
One Iranian human rights group says that Ebrahimi was subjected to several mock executions while in detention. Iranian outlets carried the judiciary’s announcement that the executions had been carried out.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks to members of the media after the U.S. and Iran held high-level talks at the Lake Lucerne Summit in June. Photo: AFP.
Vance Letter Draws Reactions in Iran
A letter sent by J.D. Vance last week to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, received lots of reactions in Iran, mostly wondering whether it could open the way for negotiations.
The letter, sent through Qatari mediators, has not been made public, but U.S. media reported that it was aimed at restarting talks between Tehran and Washington.
Over the weekend, Rezaei said he hadn’t yet replied to the letter, but he said, “The tone has completely changed and this is a very good sign. Praise be to God, the Iranian nation has consolidated its victory and authority.”
Ataollah Mohajerani, a former culture minister under reformist President Mohammad Khatami, said the letter appeared to be more serious than previous messages from the Trump administration.
Mohsen Hashemi, son of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and a reformist politician, also called for serious negotiations with the U.S. But he warned that Iran should be careful about what he called American “strategic deception.”
Hashemi said Iran cannot remain for long in the current situation of “neither war nor peace,” which is putting pressure on the country and the economy. He said the opportunity for diplomacy will not remain open forever.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, a member of Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said the question now is who will take the next step.
Iran wants the U.S. to take practical measures first, he said, including allowing Iranian oil sales and releasing some Iranian assets, adding that Washington wants these issues to be discussed as part of negotiations.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and National Security Council head Mohsen Rezaei during their meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister in Tehran last week. Photo: AFP.
Stop the Hardline Politics and Love the GCC
Jomhouri-e Eslami, a conservative newspaper in Iran, has called for confronting the hardliners driving politics in the country.
The newspaper has criticized hardliners before, so this is not new. Its editor, Masih Mohajeri, has also been a frequent target of criticism by hardline groups.
Jomhouri-e Eslami is not alone in its criticism. The long-established, moderate Ettelaat newspaper also warned on Tuesday against allowing extreme elements to block the path to negotiations. In an editorial, it argued that diplomacy is necessary to end the prolonged state of “neither war nor peace” and criticized those who attack officials pursuing diplomacy. Such pressure could deprive policymakers of the room to pursue peace and prevent another war, it warned.
In the Jomhouri-e Eslami editorial, the newspaper argued that Iran’s power should not be reduced to missiles and drones. It said Iran’s strength comes from the Iranian people’s courage and spirit of resistance, and proposed three steps to preserve it.
First, the newspaper argued, the “roots of division” in the country must be “eradicated.” It called for confronting hardline and extremist thinking at home. Taking action against a few individuals who sow discord is not enough, the paper said. The mindset behind such politics must also be addressed.
Second, it stressed that “extremist thinking must be fought within the country.”
Finally, the paper said that after tackling these domestic issues, Iran should pursue constructive engagement with countries in the region.
“We should therefore welcome the willingness of Gulf countries to develop relations with Iran and pave the way for regional cooperation and the removal of foreign powers from the region,” it said.
Since the outbreak of war, relations between Iran and its Gulf neighbors have deteriorated. Iran attacked U.S. bases and other targets in several neighboring countries, while saying that its issue was with the U.S. presence in the region and not with the Gulf countries themselves.
At the same time, Qatar and Oman have been involved in mediation between the warring parties, and contacts between Iran and Saudi Arabia have continued. The signatories of the Mecca Pact – Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey – were in Tehran last week.
An aerial view of Iran’s nuclear research complex in Isfahan province in June. Photo: AFP.
From Islamic Japan to Islamic Pyongyang
Ahmad Mazani, a reformist former MP, has criticized the recent calls for Iran to build a nuclear bomb.
In an editorial in the reformist-leaning outlet Jamaran, Mazani asked whether having a nuclear bomb would really guarantee that Iran would not be attacked again.
He said those who are proposing a nuclear bomb should also consider its consequences, including more sanctions and isolation.
Mazani used North Korea as an example, saying that despite having nuclear weapons the country is still under sanctions and isolated.
He said Iran once talked about becoming a peaceful, non-nuclear, advanced “Islamic Japan,” but now it seems to be moving in another direction.
“It seems we are gradually supposed to move away from the model of Islamic Japan and towards Islamic Pyongyang,” he wrote.
He said security is not only defined as military security. Economic and social security and people having some certainty about their future are also part of it.
Mazani’s article follows on a similar recent call by Ebrahim Karkhanei in the conservative outlet Kayhan, in which he argued that, “Experience from wars shows that possessing nuclear weapons does not prevent conventional conflicts.”
