PRESIDENT MASOUD PEZESHKIAN DREW ANGRY REACTIONS FROM IRANIANS AFTER REJECTING HIGHER ESTIMATES OF THOSE KILLED IN IRAN'S JANUARY PROTESTS AND CALLING THOSE WHO CITE SUCH FIGURES "TRAITORS" IN AN INTERVIEW PUBLISHED ON WEDNESDAY.

War and negotiations are "complementary," a senior aide to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday, defending talks with the US while saying Tehran would achieve its objectives in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider region. Vice President for Legal Affairs Majid Ansari said Iran was not seeking war or hostility, but defended negotiations with Washington amid criticism at home. "We will achieve our objectives in the Strait of Hormuz and the region," Ansari said, adding that Iran was moving closer to a point where it could pursue regional security with its neighbors "without the presence and interference of foreigners." Ansari also warned that authorities would act against people inside Iran who created what he called "distractions" if they were found to be working for Iran's enemies. He said some critics of Iranian officials had moved into "incitement, propaganda, insults, slander and disruption of social order," adding that complaints had been filed with the Special Clerical Court and other authorities.

Iran's political leadership appears increasingly divided as President Masoud Pezeshkian rejects resignation rumors and reaffirms his loyalty to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. His office has dismissed reports of repeated resignation threats as a politically motivated smear campaign, while growing tensions over a controversial U.S.-Iran MoU continue to fuel debate within the country's ruling establishment.

Iran's new Supreme Leader hasn't been seen since he took power. His absence from public life has left a vacuum in which disputes between hardliners and pragmatists, like President Masoud Pezeshkian, have become more pronounced. Read more: 📷: Iranian Presidential Office/AFP

A dinner at Versailles just became the setting for a major diplomatic breakthrough. President Trump personally signed the Iran memorandum of understanding Wednesday while meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, a White House official confirmed. The agreement, which Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also signed, is now in effect to end the war and cancels the formal signing ceremony that had been scheduled in Geneva.