IRANS INTERNAL WAR OVER THE DEAL WENT LIVE ON STATE TV

Mahmoud Nabavian, a hardline cleric and former negotiating team member, aired what he claimed was private correspondence from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on IRINN, listing eleven conditions including Hormuz toll rights, US war reparations, and no nuclear concessions 3GDN Secret correspondence claims suggest tensions at top of Iranian government. The broadcast was killed mid-sentence, the network's director general resigned within the hour, and the state broadcaster threatened Nabavian with prosecution 2AJE Khamenei’s MoU stance stirs debate as Iran and US meet in Switzerland 3GDN Secret correspondence claims suggest tensions at top of Iranian government. Khamenei's own published response to the MOU said only that he "held a different view" but deferred to President Pezeshkian, who accepted personal responsibility for the outcome 2AJE Khamenei’s MoU stance stirs debate as Iran and US meet in Switzerland. That framing is deliberate: if this deal collapses, Pezeshkian owns the wreckage and Khamenei already has his distance on record.

Iran confirmed the first round covered Articles 1, 10, and 11 of the MOU: ending the war on all fronts, US waivers on Iranian oil exports, and the $12 billion in frozen assets 1AAM Iran says Switzerland talks with US focus on ending war, easing sanctions, releasing frozen assets. Tehran's position is unambiguous: no movement on nuclear talks until Lebanon's ceasefire holds and those clauses are implemented, and Hormuz stays conditionally open until Lebanon's territorial integrity is guaranteed 5TSN Source: Hormuz Strait Won’t Reopen Unless Israel Is Restrained in Lebanon. No joint statement, no timeline, no verified progress. The 60-day clock is running and substantive nuclear negotiations have not technically begun.

Trump posted on Truth Social warning Iran to stop its "proxies in Lebanon" or face strikes "only harder," and told Fox News that a Hormuz closure would mean Iran "won't have a country" before floating a US 20% oil revenue toll on the strait 4AAM Trump warns Iran to stop ‘proxies in Lebanon’ or US will hit Tehran 'very hard again'. That last part is worth sitting with: Iran's demand is Iranian tolls on Hormuz, Trump's threat is American tolls on Hormuz. Same policy goal, framed as mutual threats. Energy Secretary Chris Wright noted 67 ships transited Hormuz in the last 24 hours at near-normal levels 4AAM Trump warns Iran to stop ‘proxies in Lebanon’ or US will hit Tehran 'very hard again', so the strait is functionally open while both sides publicly threaten to own it.

The Pentagon has not released findings on the February 28 Tomahawk strike on a girls' school in Minab that killed at least 175 people, mostly children 7GDN Four months after the horrific Iran school bombing, fears grow that Trump and Hegseth will bury the truth. Anonymous officials have confirmed US responsibility and faulty target identification; Hegseth has said nothing substantive; Trump told the G7 "mistakes are made" 7GDN Four months after the horrific Iran school bombing, fears grow that Trump and Hegseth will bury the truth. Senate appropriators are now blocking a portion of Hegseth's travel budget until the report is delivered 13APW Congress picks up the pieces after the Iran war. Beyond the moral dimension, the Iranian hardliners demanding war reparations as a non-negotiable condition have a ready-made audience in the families of those 175 children.

Iran's lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is a former IRGC commander who survived only because Pakistan warned Washington that killing him would eliminate one of the last credible interlocutors 15ABC As Trump praises 'very smart' leaders in Iran deal, Qalibaf is on the rise. He is not a moderate, he is a pragmatist with deep security establishment ties who has calculated a deal serves Iran's institutional interests right now 15ABC As Trump praises 'very smart' leaders in Iran deal, Qalibaf is on the rise. That distinction matters considerably: a deal he signs carries institutional weight that a reformist signature never would, but it also means his political survival is the thing holding the process together. Watch what the Nabavian fallout does to his domestic standing.