FM's Kabul visit aims to bolster Iran-Taliban ties

"Since the massacre on Oct 7th, Israel has been fighting a war against the multidimensional Iranian threat on seven fronts. We have made many achievements and dramatically weakened those who seek our destruction," he said.

Since the Gaza war began, sparked by Iran-backed Hamas's attacks on Israel, the most deadly single day for Jews since the Holocaust, Israel has faced attacks from Iran's allies across the Middle East, including Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and the occupied West Bank. Israel has since pounded Hamas in Gaza and massively debilitated Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran's most powerful ally.

"Iran and its partners continue to threaten the regional and global stability. The upcoming months present us with the challenges that require military readiness," Katz added.

It comes as President Donald Trump just announced that military support for Israel, which had been put on hold by the Biden administration, is now en-route to Israel.

“A lot of things that were ordered and paid for by Israel, but have not been sent by Biden, are on their way!” Trump wrote on his social media app Truth Social on Saturday.

The Biden administration had withheld weapons including 2,000 pound bombs as it tried to force Israel towards a ceasefire and the release of more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Trump said to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, “we released them (the bombs). We released them today. And they’ll have them. They paid for them and they’ve been waiting for them for a long time. They’ve been in storage.”

Last week, when asked by a reporter in the Oval Office whether he would support Israel striking Iran's nuclear facilities, President Trump said: "Obviously, I'm not going to answer that question."

"It would really be nice if that could be worked out without having to go that further step ... Iran hopefully will make a deal, and if they don't make a deal, I guess that's okay too."

Without elaborating, Trump said he would be meeting various "very high-level people" in the coming days to discuss the Iran dossier.

After Zarif suggested the country was more open to international diplomacy under the new presidency, including with its archenemy the US, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of the Parliament, warned officials to tread carefully in their public statements to avoid emboldening adversaries.

Ghalibaf said that projecting a perception of weakness from Iran’s leadership could prompt “miscalculations by the incoming US administration and worsen economic pressures.”

Iran faces a serious economic crisis, expected to get worse if US President Donald Trump puts more sanctions pressure. As a result, debate is now raging in Tehran as Iran's Supreme Leader has not authorized any new negotiations.

Zarif, a former foreign minister and now Iran's Vice-President for Strategic Affairs, stirred controversy when he suggested in a Wednesday interview with CNN host Fareed Zakaria that if conservative politician Saeed Jalili had been elected president instead of Masoud Pezeshkian last July, a major war might have been underway in the region.

Zarif’s attempt to portray Iran as seeking de-escalation and potentially relaxing hijab laws backfired, drawing heavy criticism from both the Iranian public for denying pressure on women, and officials. A senior official called for his immediate arrest.

Hardliners have launched an online petition urging the IRGC Intelligence Organization to arrest Zarif immediately over his hijab remarks, which they claim amount to an effort for regime change. Nearly 55,000 people have signed the petition so far.

Ahmad Khatami, a senior Friday prayer leader, has also criticized the idea of US-Iran negotiations, describing them as “a tactic to counter the revolution.”

The conservative Kayhan newspaper and figures close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei amplified the critiques, with some calling for Zarif’s prosecution.

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Conservatives Denounce Zarif’s Tone

Zarif’s acknowledgment that Iran no longer harshly enforces the hijab sparked particular outrage among hardliners. Mohammad Manan Raisi, a representative from Qom accused Zarif on Sunday of violating the country’s laws and disrespecting religious mandates.

“This individual has brazenly mocked God’s explicit command at an international forum,” Raisi said, referencing Zarif’s comment about unveiled women in Tehran and saying the government has relaxed hijab enforcement in Iran.

Raisi also criticized institutional inaction, saying that efforts to address Zarif’s remarks had stalled.

The Ham Mihan newspaper, however, defended Zarif’s remarks, saying that Fareed Zakaria's question was based on the premise that the presence or absence of moderates in the political structure of the Islamic Republic makes no difference, and Zarif sought to refute this notion.

The paper argued that Zarif’s engagement at Davos sought to portray Iran as a rational actor committed to international norms, despite significant internal and external challenges.

Domestic Debate on Negotiations

Citing European officials, Axios recently reported that Iran may be signaling openness to a new agreement distinct from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Despite this, opposition to dialogue with the US remains fierce among hardliners.

Fatemeh Mohajerani, the Government Spokeswoman speaking to ILNA, sought to assuage concerns about negotiations on Sunday, emphasizing that decisions on critical issues like the nuclear program are made within the Supreme National Security Council.

“We assure concerned individuals that decision-making in the country follows a completely rational and well-established process,” she said.

Zarif’s attempt to position Iran as a cooperative global player has drawn fire from conservatives who view his comments as signaling capitulation. Critics argue that such rhetoric undermines the nation’s revolutionary ideals, while supporters see it as a pragmatic effort to mitigate international isolation.

The Iranian delegation plans to visit polling stations in the capital to closely monitor the electoral process.

Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, is seeking his seventh term in office.

The election has been widely criticized by opposition figures and international observers as lacking genuine competition. Many opposition leaders are either imprisoned or in exile, leading to allegations that the election is a mere formality to extend Lukashenko's rule.

The European Parliament has denounced the election as a sham, urging the international community not to recognize its results and to support the Belarusian people's pursuit of democracy and human rights.

Iran's own electoral process has been criticized by international observers, including Freedom House, which has noted the influence of Iran's Guardian Council, an unelected body that vets candidates, as a key factor limiting the country's democratic standards.

Freedom House says of Iran's democratic process: "The Islamic Republic of Iran holds elections regularly, but they fall short of democratic standards due in part to the influence of the hard-line Guardian Council, an unelected body that disqualifies all candidates it deems insufficiently loyal to the clerical establishment. Ultimate power rests in the hands of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the unelected institutions under his control."

"Like Gaza, we too must resist the US," Ahmad Khatami, who also serves as Tehran's interim Friday prayer leader, said on Saturday while speaking at a mosque in Kashan, central Iran.

"I am confident that as long as the people stand firm, they will take the dream of negotiating with the US to their graves," the ultra conservative cleric added.

The US and Iran have not had diplomatic ties since 1980 and in recent days, leaders at Friday prayers across Iran have delivered strong rebukes of US policies.

Earlier, Khatami said that the Islamic Republic's founder Ruhollah Khomeini had labeled the US as the "Great Satan," a sentiment which he said was consistently reaffirmed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Khatami argued that the primary aim of the US in seeking talks was "a means to confront the Revolution.”

Ahmad Alamolhoda, Mashhad's hardline Friday prayer leader, has also criticized those advocating for dialogue with the West.

While Iranian hardliners reject overtures from Washington, moderate voices within the country have pointed to potential openings under Trump’s renewed tenure.

"Masoud Pezeshkian has said in the inner circles of power that he will serve only one term as president and does not intend to run in the next presidential election," pro-government Sazandegi newspaper reported, without giving further details.

The report was released shortly after Pezeshkian and one of his vice presidents posed for photos dressed as construction workers while laying bricks for the construction of a school in Khuzestan, southwestern Iran.

Sazandegi praised Pezeshkian’s brick-laying gesture as "beautiful", but many social media users, including both conservatives supporting the Islamic Republic and dissidents, criticized it as populism.

"The exchange rate for every US dollar has soared to 838,000 rials, and the president is busy shoveling dirt and cement," one user on X quipped.

Another anonymous user, a cleric, commented, "If the previous ultraconservative President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad had done the same, the media would have criticized him with all kinds of harsh words."

However, in its Saturday report, Sazandegi countered that the gesture could not be considered populist, as Pezeshkian has no intention of running for reelection.