Iran’s most senior foreign policy voice has publicly ruled out any prospect of negotiations to end the ten-day-old war with the United States and Israel, warning that only accumulating economic pain on the global economy will eventually force outside powers to pressure Washington into stepping back.
Kamal Kharazi, foreign policy adviser to the office of the Supreme Leader, made the declaration in an exclusive CNN interview in Tehran on Monday, signalling a hardening of the Iranian government’s position as the conflict entered its tenth day.
“I don’t see any room for diplomacy anymore. Because Donald Trump had been deceiving others and not keeping with his promises, and we experienced this in two times of negotiations, that while we were engaged in negotiation, they struck us,” Kharazi told CNN. He added that the only path to ending the war lay in building sufficient economic pressure on other nations so that they would be compelled to intervene and demand a halt to what he called American and Israeli aggression.
The war has choked off major supplies of oil and gas to world markets, prompted millions to seek shelter, and forced foreigners to flee business hubs as strikes have hit military bases, government buildings, oil and water installations, hotels, and at least one school.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, surged to nearly $120 a barrel on Monday, around 65% higher than when the war began, before retreating below $100. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 600 points at the opening bell in New York, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.4% and the Nasdaq composite slid 1.3%. Trump posted on Truth Social that the oil price rise was a “very small price to pay” and would be short-lived.
Iran’s attacks in the Strait of Hormuz have all but stopped tankers from using the shipping lane through which a fifth of the world’s oil is carried, while Iranian drones and missiles have targeted oil and gas infrastructure across major Gulf producers.
The appointment of a new Iranian leader deepened concerns that the conflict could become entrenched. Iran’s Assembly of Experts named Mojtaba Khamenei, a secretive 56-year-old cleric described as even less compromising than his late father, as the country’s third-ever supreme leader. The elder Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in joint US-Israeli airstrikes on the first day of the conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Iran’s new leader and pledged Moscow’s “unwavering support” for Tehran, stating that Russia had been and would remain a reliable partner of the Islamic Republic.
Trump called the appointment a “mistake” and said the new leader “is not going to last long” without US approval. Israel has previously warned that any declared successor to the elder Khamenei would be considered a potential military target.
The US government on Monday ordered non-emergency government employees to leave Saudi Arabia, citing heightened risks from armed conflict, terrorism, and missile and drone attacks. It was the first such departure order issued in Saudi Arabia since the war began.
Kharazi also pushed back on what he described as a false narrative that the Iranian military’s capabilities had been drastically degraded, insisting the country retained the capacity to continue fighting indefinitely.
