Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told US right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson that Israel was seeking to embroil the United States in a Mideast 'forever war', in his first international interview since US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
“Netanyahu, as I said, has his own agenda. He wants to drag the US into forever wars… and to bring more insecurity and unrest to the whole region," Pezeshkian told Carlson in the virtual discussion, referring to the Israeli Prime Minister.
Carlson is an outspoken critic of US military action against Iran and a top dissenter from among President Donald Trump's populist base. The US President dismissed his views as "kooky".
Pezeshkian, a relative moderate, has advocated for greater engagement with Washington but hardline Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ultimately decides policy.
Responding to a question on whether two senior clerics had issued a fatwa to kill Trump, Pezeshkian said, “To the best of my knowledge, they have not issued decrees or fatwas against any individual or against Donald Trump. It has nothing to do with the Iranian government or the Supreme Leader of Iran."
"What they actually meant by the fatwa was the condemnation of an insult to a religion or religious personalities … It should not be construed or considered as a threat against an individual.”
Last month, Alireza Panahian, a hardline Iranian cleric close to Iran’s Supreme Leader called on Muslims to kill Trump and Netanyahu in response to their threats against Khamenei, citing fatwas that declare him a mohareb, or “enemy of God.”
Najmuddin Tabasi, a member of the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, said Trump “must be executed” and warned that “the same hand that fired a shot past his ear can put a bullet through his throat.”
Referring to recent fatwas by Ayatollahs Naser Makarem Shirazi and Hossein Nouri Hamedani, Tabasi said he was confident that “brave youth will deprive Trump of security.”
Pezeshkian also denied Iran had sought to kill Trump in an alleged plot detailed by US law enforcement last year.
'No problem' with reviving talks
Iran has never pursued nuclear weapons, Pezeshkian said, citing religious prohibitions and cooperation with international inspectors.
“We have never been after developing a nuclear bomb—not in the past, not presently or in the future—because this is wrong. And this is in contrast to the religious decree or the fatwa which has been issued by the Supreme Leader … so it is religiously forbidden for us to go after a nuclear bomb.”
Ongoing conflict with Israel had sabotaged nuclear negotiations, he said, adding that talks with the US had been progressing when Israel launched attacks on Iran.
“We were sitting at the negotiating table when it happened. And by doing this, they totally ruined and destroyed diplomacy.”
“We see no problem in reentering the negotiations. But how are we going to trust the United States again? We reentered the negotiations. Then how can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks, the Israeli regime will not be given the permission again to attack us?”
White House envoy Steve Witkoff is planning to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oslo next week to relaunch nuclear talks, Axios reported on Thursday, citing two sources familiar with the preparations.
The meeting would mark the first direct engagement since President Trump ordered strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities last month. Neither side has publicly acknowledged the planned talks.
Alleged Israeli assassination attempt
Pezeshkian said Israel had attempted to assassinate him, describing a strike on a meeting he attended. There was no immediate Israeli or independent corroboration of his claim.
“They did try, yes, and they acted accordingly, but they failed. I am not afraid of sacrificing myself in defense of my country."
Israeli escalation would only deepen regional instability, he warned.
“Will it bring peace and tranquility and stability to the region? It was not the US that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel. But as I told you before, it is God who wills when a person will die.”
Pezeshkian framed the conflict as a product of Israeli ambitions and urged Washington to avoid becoming entangled.
“My proposal is that the US administration should refrain from getting involved in a war that is not America’s war. It is Netanyahu’s war that is having its own agenda … an inhuman agenda, and that is having forever wars, wars that go on and on.”
'Death to America' misunderstood
The Iranian president said that “Death to America” slogans were misunderstood. “They don’t mean death to the people of the United States, or even to the officials. They mean death to crime, death to killing and carnage, death to supporting killing others.”
Pezeshkian also said Ali Khamenei has no objection to the operation of US businesses in Iran even under the currency circumstances, and there has never been any limitation from Tehran’s side, attributing barriers to American sanctions.
"The Supreme Leader told me American investors are welcome in Iran. There is no limitation and there's nothing preventing the US investors from coming to Iran to make investments, even presently," he said.
“It is not to be in the interest of the United States to be involved in any kind of war in my region,” he said. “It is up to the United States president to choose … whether to replace war mongering and bloodshed with peace and tranquility.”
