Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told a public gathering Friday that his government signed the Islamabad memorandum of understanding with the United States out of logic and awareness, pushing back against domestic critics who have characterized the agreement as capitulation.
Pezeshkian, speaking at the 31st General Assembly of the Islamic Association of Iran, said the Supreme National Security Council had reviewed and sanctioned the accord. He described the outcome of the talks as honorable and valuable, and said council members who participated directly in the negotiations had defended the final text without reservation.
"They cannot find even a single clause in this agreement that indicates surrender; all the commitments are related to the other side," Pezeshkian said, according to a statement issued by the Iranian presidency.
Iran and the United States signed the 14-point memorandum in Islamabad on June 18, with Pakistan and Qatar serving as joint mediators. The document provides for an end to hostilities and opens a 60-day window for negotiations toward a permanent settlement. Pakistani and Qatari envoys have continued shuttle diplomacy between Tehran and Washington since the signing.
Tehran subsequently accused Washington of violating the memorandum's terms. Pezeshkian addressed those accusations Friday without elaborating on specific incidents, instead accusing U.S. forces of striking Iranian schools, hospitals and civilian infrastructure in contravention of international rules. He called for domestic unity as a precondition for any successful negotiation.
The president argued that the present moment offers an opening Tehran should not forfeit. "It is better to end the war today, when we are in a position of power and dignity," he said. He described the current situation as one of neither war nor peace, and said allowing that condition to persist served neither Iranian citizens nor the country's strategic interests.
Pezeshkian was direct that accepting a diplomatic settlement does not mean accepting vulnerability. He said Iran's armed forces remain fully prepared to defend the country if talks collapse, and warned that Tehran would not yield to coercion. "We will under no circumstances bow to bullying," he said. "We will stand against them until our last breath and give them a crushing response."
The remarks address Iran's internal political landscape as much as Washington. Hard-line factions inside the Islamic Republic have challenged Pezeshkian's approach to the negotiations, arguing that any agreement with the United States represents an erosion of core principles. By invoking the Supreme National Security Council's direct endorsement, Pezeshkian sought to insulate the accord from that criticism and frame it as an institutional decision rather than a personal or factional one.
The 60-day negotiating period established by the June 18 memorandum places a firm deadline on the diplomatic track. If that window closes without a permanent agreement, both sides would face a decision on whether to extend talks, allow the memorandum to lapse, or return to active hostilities. Islamabad and Doha, as guarantors of the document, have kept communication lines open between the parties throughout the period of mutual accusations.
