Iran has the “necessary will” to end the war with the United States and Israel, President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday, stressing that Tehran was seeking guarantees the conflict would not flare up again.
The comment by the head of state — which boosted markets in the United States — came after a day of heavy strikes on Iran and followed a tough warning from the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Guards threatened to retaliate against leading US tech firms such as Google, Meta and Apple from Wednesday if more Iranian leaders were killed in “targeted assassinations”.
The Guards charged that 18 companies, also including Intel, Tesla and analytics firm Palantir, were complicit in previous killings and warned they “should expect the destruction of their relevant units in exchange for every assassination in Iran”.
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the war on February 28, killing Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei and setting off a wave of retaliatory attacks across the region.
Trump has since zigzagged on whether Washington plans to further escalate the war that has roiled the world economy — possibly by deploying American ground forces — or try to end it through negotiations with Tehran.
Pezeshkian, in a phone call with the president of the European Council, said Iran had “the necessary will to end this conflict, provided that essential conditions are met — especially the guarantees required to prevent repetition of the aggression”.
Responding to a 15-point US plan to end the war last week, Tehran had put forward a counterproposal demanding a mechanism guaranteeing that Israel and the US would not return to war.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, speaking earlier after he visited US troops in the Middle East, vowed that “the upcoming days will be decisive. Iran knows that, and there’s almost nothing they can militarily do about it.”
Asked about next steps, Hegseth said that “you can’t fight and win a war if you tell your adversary what you are willing to do, or what you are not willing to do, to include boots on the ground”.
Trump had threatened Monday that if Iran didn’t agree to a deal, US forces would “obliterate” all of its oil wells, its main Kharg Island export terminal, and possibly its water desalination plants.
On Tuesday, heavy strikes hit Iran, including the central city of Isfahan and Tehran, where AFP journalists heard blasts, with air defences activated.
