Politician blasted by IRGC outlet over Trump meeting stance
Iranian conservative politician Ali Motahari
A media outlet affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has lashed out at a politician who recently suggested that President Masoud Pezeshkian should have accepted Donald Trump’s offer to meet.
Javan newspaper criticized Ali Motahari, a conservative politician known for occasionally outspoken views, for suggesting that President Masoud Pezeshkian should not have waited for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s reaction to Trump’s offer and should have accepted it immediately—arguing that if Khamenei later opposed direct talks, the meeting could simply have been canceled.
Javan wrote: “Common sense and conventional understanding tell any political figure that even if the constitution had not granted the Supreme Leader authority over foreign policy, in a time of war and external threats, one should not say, ‘Let the president speak for himself, and if necessary, the Leader can oppose it later’.”
In early February, President Trump revived his pressure campaign against Tehran while simultaneously calling for direct talks with his Iranian counterpart.
Iran’s President dismissed his deputy for parliamentary affairs on Saturday after images surfaced online showing the official on vacation in Argentina and en route to Antarctica during the Iranian new year holidays.
In a letter published by government-affiliated media outlets, President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote that the Antarctic vacation, “even if paid for personally,” could not be justified while “economic pressures remain severe and many in our country live in deprivation.”
Shahram Dabiri Oskuei has not commented publicly but shortly after the photos began circulating on March 25, the state-run IRNA news agency cited a member of his office denying the trip took place this year.
“The photo being shared is from past years,” the unnamed official said.
The controversy erupted after multiple images were posted on social media appearing to show Dabiri alongside a woman near a cruise ship and other landmarks in Buenos Aires.
Pezeshkian wrote that an internal review confirmed Dabiri had been on a recreational tour over the holiday.
However, the trip to Antarctica is not the VP's first controversial episode. In 2020, he was arrested on financial charges though in the end, the charges were dropped.
The holiday comes while one third of Iran is living below the poverty line in the worst economic crisis since the founding of the Islamic Republic, the average monthly income in Iran now as low as $200 for a family of four.
A rhetorical column, written in a satirical tone, in an Iranian newspaper on Saturday called for violent revenge against former US President Donald Trump, mocking his threats and invoking the killing of Qassem Soleimani.
The ultra-hardline Kayhan newspaper, published under the supervision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s office, mocked Trump’s threats of military action should Iran fail to reach a new agreement not to produce nuclear weapons.
Speaking about Trump’s threats and tariffs even against US allies, Kayhan wrote, “He’s way out of line! Any day now, in revenge for the blood of Martyr Soleimani, a few bullets are going to be fired into that empty skull of his and he’ll be drinking from the chalice of a cursed death.”
A rhetorical column, written in a satirical tone, in an Iranian newspaper on Saturday called for violent revenge against US President Donald Trump, mocking his threats and invoking the killing of Qasem Soleimani.
The ultra-hardline Kayhan newspaper, published under the supervision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s office, mocked Trump’s threats of military action should Iran fail to reach a new agreement on nuclear weapons.
Speaking about Trump’s threats and tariffs even against US allies, Kayhan wrote, “He’s way out of line! Any day now, in revenge for the blood of Martyr Soleimani, a few bullets are going to be fired into that empty skull of his and he’ll be drinking from the chalice of a cursed death.”
After President Trump’s threats of a military strike, Tehran has agreed to indirect talks, despite a previous ban by Khamenei. However, Trump has said he prefers direct negotiations.
Kayhan, mocking the US president also wrote, “He makes threats and then backs down! The result? The situation in America gets worse by the day. Just yesterday, it was announced that his actions have caused $3 trillion in damage to the US economy, American exports are facing serious problems, and top officials in the military, CIA, and elsewhere have either resigned or been dismissed…”
Any potential US airstrike would target not only Iran's nuclear facilities but also its air defense and missile capabilities in a bid to prevent possible retaliation, the former commander of US Central Command told Iran International.
The US military has in recent days deployed long-range bombers at a strategic Indian Ocean airbase amid escalation of tensions with Tehran, a move which presaged major bombing campaigns against Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003.
In an exclusive interview with Iran International, former CENTCOM commander and CIA chief David Petraeus described the deployment as a step toward preparing for military action against Iran if it failed to reach a deal with the Trump administration over its disputed nuclear program.
"They are also steps to show that we are very serious and that you should not do this, and therefore trying to deter Iran from doing what would be unacceptable and would force the United States to take action," he said.
Petraeus said, "There's great concern about how close Iran is to the possibility of having a nuclear weapon. They're literally just one turn of the enrichment process from having weapons-grade uranium. That is something that President Trump has said he will never allow the Iranians to have a nuclear weapon."
Trump has warned Iran would be bombed if it did not agree to a new nuclear deal, prompting Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to say on Monday that the Islamic Republic would deal a "strong blow" in retaliation for any attack.
Iran's retaliation
Iran has threatened to target American interests in the region, including its strategic Diego Garcia naval base in the Indian Ocean if it is attacked by the US.
However, Petraeus says Trump would not stop at a limited attack on the nuclear sites and would go after the Islamic Republic's air defense and missile capabilities.
"You probably have to take out some of the retaliatory capacity of Iran as well because you don't want to just take out the nuclear program and then have them go after the bases where we have forces, and that would then bring in all these other countries, of course," he said.
Former CENTCOM chief David Petraeus and Iran International's Marzia Hussaini in Washington DC
"This is not just a surgical attack on discrete nuclear capabilities. This is against the retaliatory capabilities, against the defense capability, and that's what has to be done if you're going to carry out this operation."
Plan to destroy Iran's nuclear program
Petraeus said he actually developed the plan to destroy Iran's nuclear program over 15 years ago when he was the commander of the US Central Command.
"It's publicly known that we actually rehearsed that plan one time inside the United States, with all the planes flying all the distances that they would have to fly, the refuelers, all the command and control, the jammers that drop, the munitions that we would drop, and so forth. And it all worked."
Gen. David Petraeus, commander of US Central Command, speaks to soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, on Dec. 25, 2008.
"We were prepared one time actually, to set the theater, in other words, to identify all the locations from which the planes would fly, where they would be based. The munitions were in place, the food, fuel, water, etc. All was set. We thought there was a likelihood of this. We told the White House we probably should get more prepared than we were."
'Israel proved it's possible'
Petraeus said Iran currently "does have more effective, more elaborate air and ballistic missile defenses" than in the past. However, he said, "Israel penetrated them twice, showing that that can be done."
The surface-to-air S-300s were the last in the Islamic Republic's arsenal after one was destroyed in an attack in April 2024 also likely carried out by Israel, Fox News quoted a senior US official as saying.
Still, Petraeus says Iran has "more retaliatory capability in terms of missiles and so forth, even though Israel dramatically reduced the ability of Iran to make solid fuel rocket engines from several per day to one or two per week."
Bunker busters
The former CENTCOM commander said the US military has bombs like the 30,000-pound GBU-57, aka Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), that "is very accurate and can penetrate very hardened targets".
"It would be used against the most deeply buried hardened targets... you can imagine which target that might be," he said, adding that the use of such bunker busters is "not just possible but would be necessary" in a potential strike against Iran.
Iran’s most secretive nuclear facility, known as Fordow, has been carved deep into a mountain in central Iran, and is reportedly some 90 meters (295 feet) deep. It is also protected by several feet of reinforced concrete.
In 2012, defense experts contacted by Reuters believed the chances of a US strike against Fordow succeeding are slim. However, Petraeus says, "they can do enormous damage and destruction".
B-2 bombers have been deployed in US strikes against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, but the campaign has seen limited success, CNN reports citing three sources with knowledge of the campaign.
The operation has cost nearly $1 billion in less than three weeks, according to the report, but does not appear to have significantly degraded Houthi capabilities.
One source told CNN the Pentagon may request supplemental funding.
