After the 2009 Green Movement and crackdown on the Islamic Republic’s reformist faction, former president Mohammad Khatami largely withdrew from public life and the judiciary formalized the informal with a media ban in 2016. On July 16, 2026, however, Khatami made headlines, sparking debates within the regime and its affiliated press.
The Islamic Republic’s press is peculiar. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei always allowed some debate over policy in the media, so long as it did not challenge his rule, authority, and core pillars of regime ideology. This tradition persists, even with his death and the status of his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, unclear. It is therefore not surprising that Khatami has again found his voice.
“Any action that removes the shadow of war from the country and prevents further difficulties in the lives of the people benefits Iran and national interest.”
The latest controversy erupted after a meeting between Khatami and his confidants. Khatami advised reaching “an honorable peace” with the United States. He added that seeking peace is not “at odds with the ideology of” Hussain ibn Ali, whom Shi’a uphold as a symbol of resistance and martyrdom.
Khatami also mentioned that, after the Twelve-Day War, he wrote a letter to Ali Khamenei, reminding him of the book, The Most Magnificent Heroic Flexibility, which Khamenei had translated from Arabic. It is a myth-making book about the second Shi’i Imam’s peace with the caliph. Khatami alleges that the Imam “recommended to walk in the path of peace to preserve the country’s power and the regime.” Khatami added, “I deem unlikely that Israel will easily allow a lasting peace in the region, but any action that removes the shadow of war from the country and prevents further difficulties in the lives of the people benefits Iran and national interest.”
Reformist publications celebrated his remarks. One added context. According to Rouydad24, President Masoud Pezeshkian’s office conducted a national survey in the spring. The survey found a continued rise of dissatisfaction. Eighty-one percent of Iranians responded that they struggle buying food, 54 percent stated that household expenditures exceed their incomes, 33 percent—including 50 percent of college graduates—expressed a desire to emigrate, and, most interestingly, 70 percent blamed mismanagement, “not sanctions,” for the economic crisis.
The Islamic Republic News Agency, controlled by the Pezeshkian administration, reported the story with the headline, “Objecting to negotiations and negotiators has no bearing on Muhammadian Islam.” Another reformist newspaper quoted Khatami as saying, “Warmongers walk the same path that Israel takes,” the highest insult in the Islamic Republic’s politics.
Hardliners are not convinced. Tasnim News asked, “Mr. Khatami, what parallel universe are you living in?” The editorial mentions that the United States has withdrawn from previous agreements, including the recent Memorandum of Understanding, though it fails to mention that Iran initiated the attacks that caused the withdrawal. Tasnim also published an essay by a cleric close with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, citing the Qur’an in rejecting Khatami’s assertion that peace is not at odds with Islam.
Other hardline media echoed these sentiments. One called Khatami the “Voice of Israel.” Raja News, close with the ultra-hardline Paydari [resistance] faction, reposted it. A pundit on national television fired a rhetorical shot at him without naming him.
While Ali Khamenei had consolidated absolute power, in his absence, Khatami appears to believe all bets are off.
Meanwhile, reformists are hitting back that the Paydari faction leaders, Saeed Jalili and Member of Parliament Amir-Hossein Sabeti, should join the front line. An online campaign calling for this has received 100,000 signatures.
Meanwhile, all sides claim Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf as their own. Rouydad24 quoted him as being in favor of preserving the June agreement, and Nour News, close to the Supreme National Security Council, quoted different parts of the same statement, including that “I have no fear of war.”
While Ali Khamenei had consolidated absolute power, in his absence, Khatami appears to believe all bets are off. He almost certainly authorized the leak of his remarks. It is unlikely that he and other reformists can win control or even influence regime direction, but the fact that Khatami, famous for his cowardice, is willing to raise his head suggests the degree to which control is fracturing within the Islamic Republic.
The United States and Israel would be well-advised to pay attention to these fights and do their best to exploit them to weaken the Islamic Republic. After all, political warfare is cheaper than its military counterpart.
