In a scene that reflects the magnitude of the contradiction between political discourse and media escalation, Iran sent a direct threatening message to US President Donald Trump, coinciding with its refusal to hold any meeting with the American delegation in Doha, despite continued talk about a negotiating path between the two sides.
According to two reports by journalist Zion Benjo, Hamshahri newspaper, one of the most widely circulated newspapers in Iran and published by the Tehran municipality, published on Tuesday morning a picture of US President Donald Trump inside a sniper scope, under a prominent headline: “Inevitable Revenge.”
The newspaper indicated that the letter was attributed to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, and attached it with a subtitle that stated: “It is necessary to stand up to war criminals.”
The newspaper also quoted statements by a number of prominent clerics in Iran in which they called for the implementation of retaliatory steps in response to the assassination of leaders in the Iranian regime, stressing, reportedly, that “there will be no forgiveness” for the assassinations of state leaders.
This media escalation comes at a time when Washington is talking about an upcoming meeting in Doha, but Tehran was quick to deny any meeting with the American delegation.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi announced that an Iranian “delegation of experts” will be in Qatar during the next two days, but he stressed that the delegation will not meet with representatives of the United States, but rather its activities will be limited to meetings with Qatari officials to verify Washington’s commitment to its previous pledges.
This reflects the continuing conflicting narratives between the two parties, as Iranian officials confirm that the request to hold the meeting came from the Trump administration, while the US President announced through his platforms that it was Iran that requested the meeting.
In parallel, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian published a clarification through his account on the “X” platform, in which he confirmed that Tehran is still committed to the memorandum of understanding with the United States, but he linked this to Washington’s full commitment to its commitments, saying that “mutual understanding is a two-way street,” adding that Iran will comply if the American side adheres.
For his part, Trump said during his conversation with reporters in the Oval Office that he did not want to anticipate the results of the meeting, considering that the meeting “may be very important,” but at the same time he acknowledged that it “may not achieve any progress at all.”
In a related context, Gharibabadi announced that “significant progress” had been made in the talks between Iran and the Sultanate of Oman regarding the mechanism for collecting fees in the Strait of Hormuz, confirming that understandings had been reached in this file, in a step that reflects Tehran’s endeavor to consolidate regional understandings in parallel with its diplomatic path with Washington.
The scene combines public threatening messages, a refusal to meet directly with the American delegation, and continued adherence to existing understandings, which reflects the extent of the lack of trust between the two parties, and confirms that any political progress continues to collide with escalatory rhetoric that dominates the atmosphere of the negotiations.
