Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has reiterated that any decision to end the war with the United States and Israel must protect Iran’s people and national interests. In remarks carried by the state news agency IRNA, he said peace talks would be meaningless unless Tehran receives credible assurances that future attacks will not happen again.
Tehran Repeats Its Core Terms
At a cabinet meeting on March 30, 2026, Pezeshkian restated three conditions for ending the conflict: recognition of Iran’s legitimate rights, payment of reparations, and firm international guarantees against renewed aggression. The position was not new. On March 11, after calls with the leaders of Russia and Pakistan, he had already outlined the same framework on his official X account. On March 16, he sharpened the message, saying there was no point discussing the end of the war unless Iran could be sure its territory would not come under attack again.
War Enters Another Month as Regional Pressure Builds
The direct military conflict began on February 28, 2026, when U.S. and Israeli forces struck Iranian targets, according to Tehran’s account. Iran described the operation as unprovoked aggression. It later responded with drone and missile attacks targeting locations inside Israel as well as U.S.-linked assets in Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf states, escalating the confrontation and disrupting regional markets, infrastructure, and air travel.
Iranian officials say the death toll on their side has climbed to more than 1,340, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As of March 31, 2026, none of Tehran’s stated conditions had been met, and the conflict was still ongoing. Pezeshkian has consistently framed Iran’s military response as defensive, saying the country would not strike first but would retaliate if attacked.
Diplomatic Opening, but on Extremely High Terms
Analysts see Iran’s repeated public messaging as a possible diplomatic signal, but one paired with a very high threshold for any settlement. In practice, the phrase “legitimate rights” is widely understood to include issues tied to Iran’s nuclear program and its regional sphere of influence, both longstanding flashpoints with Washington and Tel Aviv.
Tehran’s insistence on reparations and binding international guarantees also reflects deep mistrust built over decades. Iranian officials continue to cite the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as evidence that unilateral or verbal commitments from Washington carry limited weight. Some observers argue that Iran is keeping the door to negotiations open while setting terms so strict that they also serve a domestic political purpose by reinforcing a posture of resistance.
So far, neither the U.S. nor Israel has publicly responded to Pezeshkian’s latest remarks from March 30. Following the report, U.S. equities rallied and bitcoin briefly moved above $68,000. At the time referenced in the source material, BTC was trading at $67,403.