Iranian President Pressed Supreme Leader to Approve Preliminary Ceasefire Deal, Report Says

Iranian President Pezeshkian visited Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei during the final stage of negotiations as Khamenei hesitated over approving a preliminary ceasefire agreement, The New York Times reported. According to Jin10, the report cited four officials familiar with the meeting details. Pezeshkian told Khamenei that Iran’s economic situation was severe and that a U.S. maritime blockade was strangling the country. He said he would resign if Khamenei rejected the agreement. The report also said Iran’s central bank governor, Abdolnaser Hemmati, wrote to Khamenei warning that the country faced a serious budget crisis. Hemmati said that if the maritime blockade continued, key food and medical supplies would be exhausted by the end of August. In the letter, Hemmati explained that Iran could not sell oil at the scale required or find alternative trade routes. The report said these interventions played a key role in Khamenei’s eventual decision to support the agreement. In a brief public statement, Khamenei said that while he opposed the agreement “in principle,” he instructed the president to continue advancing it if the president received backing from the Supreme National Security Council. Pezeshkian said the council approved the agreement with 12 votes in favor out of 13.