analysis
While the agreement with the USA is being discussed at the Bürgenstock, hardliners in Tehran are threatening retaliation against their own politicians.
June 22, 2026, 12:23 amJune 22, 2026, 12:23 am
Michael Wrase, Limassol / ch media
In front of the portraits of Ruhollah Khomeini, Ali Khamenei and Moschtaba Khamenei, a cleric uses his cell phone during a pro-regime rally in Tehran.Image: Vahid Salemi
The Iranian negotiating delegation landed in Zurich late on Saturday with a catalog of “guidelines for protecting the rights of the Iranian nation”. It was specified by the “Supreme National Security Council” in Iran, which expects the team led by Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to advance the talks at the Bürgenstock “with complete distrust of the USA”. Concessions to the “Great Satan”, as the USA has been vilified in Iran for 47 years, are only likely to be made after consultation with Tehran.
On Sunday night, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards made it clear that “the military and not the people in suits in Tehran” decide “who is allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.” The strait has been closed again since Saturday afternoon. The Iranian regime wants to force an end to the Israeli bombings against its ally Hezbollah.
Only then could the nuclear program and other controversial issues be negotiated at the Bürgenstock. If the Revolutionary Guards had had their way, their country’s preliminary framework agreement with the USA should never have been signed.
Threats against “dissenters”
The controversial contract has not only exposed the extremely fragile balance of power within the regime, but has further deepened it. From the hardliners’ perspective, resistance against the USA is not a negotiable foreign policy, but an “eternal religious principle” that must endure until the end of time. Any agreement with Washington is consequently interpreted not as diplomacy, but as a betrayal of the revolution. With the signing of the framework agreement, the hardliners argue, “the red lines” of the Islamic Republic have been abandoned.
The supporters of the ultra-conservative Paydari Front (Front of Endurance) have long since taken their fight against so-called “deviants” to the streets. If the “guidelines to protect the nation” are not met, “we will make their lives hell,” threatened Mohammed Ali Bakhshi, a public speaker paid by the hardliners, on Friday in Shar-e Ray, a city south of Tehran. The people will then put “the blade” to the “throat of the traitors”.
This meant not only Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Araghchi, but also President Peseschkhian, who signed the framework agreement with the USA last Thursday to defend the “dignity, honor and authority” of Iran. The heart surgeon’s scope for action is extremely limited: just a few weeks ago he is said to have offered to resign because he was bypassed when making important decisions.
Will the Ayatollah show himself again?
Only after Peseschkhian, as chairman of the Supreme National Security Council, had “explicitly assumed responsibility” for the framework agreement was he allowed by revolutionary leader Moschtaba Khamenei to sign the agreement. However, he had a “fundamentally” different view of the agreement, according to a written message from the revolutionary leader a short time later.
People in Iran are eagerly awaiting whether Khamenei Jr. will appear in public for the first time at the official funeral ceremonies for his father in just under two weeks. Since his appointment as his father’s successor on March 8, Modshtaba, who was seriously injured in the Israeli air strikes on the revolutionary leader’s residences, has only appeared in written communications. His reticence leaves the frequently asked question of how much authority he actually has over the rival centers of power in Iran unanswered – and opens up space for speculation about the “real leadership” in the Islamic Republic.
Moschtaba Khamenei could put an end to this by taking part in the funeral ceremonies. If he continues to remain “invisible”, the dispute over negotiations with the “great Satan USA” is likely to become even more heated. (schweiztoday.ch)