Media: Single phrase by Supreme Leader fuels rift inside Iran's leadership

A single phrase used by Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has reportedly triggered deep divisions within the Islamic Republic over a US-brokered peace agreement reached after the recent conflict with Israel and the United States, The Telegraph reports.

The controversy centers on Khamenei's use of the Arabic phrase "alal-osul" ("in principle") when endorsing the agreement that ended the war which began on February 28 following joint US-Israeli strikes that killed his father, Ali Khamenei. While approving the deal, he added: "I, in principle, had a different opinion," a remark that has sparked conflicting interpretations across Iran's political and military establishment.

"The main issue within the system now is that phrase," a senior Iranian official told The Telegraph from Tehran. "It made commanders, especially in the field, doubt the whole process. They think [Khamenei] is not happy with the talks, and that something is being imposed on him against his will."

According to the report, one faction views the statement as reluctant approval, suggesting Khamenei accepted diplomacy as the only path out of economic crisis, sanctions and the threat of renewed war. Hardliners, however, interpret it as a signal to resist negotiations with Washington.

The uncertainty has intensified following comments by hardline lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian, who claimed on state television that classified correspondence showed Iran's negotiators had exceeded Khamenei's instructions. The interview was abruptly cut, and one state broadcaster director later resigned.

"What Nabavian said intensified the doubt over whether Mojtaba even has a say in the final deal – or whether he wants the government to keep talking at all," the senior official said, adding: "For now, everything is looked at with a big suspicion."

The uncertainty has also reached Iran's military ranks.

"It is we who decide who passes through – not those sitting under air conditioners in Tehran, nor those in Washington," an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officer stationed near the Strait of Hormuz told the newspaper. "We are here, and we say who goes and who comes."

Meanwhile, veteran conservative Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel defended the supreme leader's remarks, arguing they had been misinterpreted.

"Our wrong interpretation of alal-osul has caused division," he told state television, insisting Khamenei was "strengthening the hand of the Iranian negotiator" rather than undermining diplomacy.

President Masoud Pezeshkian has since sought support from senior clerics in Qom, stressing that the agreement had been reached "in complete coordination" with the supreme leader while warning that "some currents, aligned with hostile media, are trying to destroy the negotiating team."

According to analysts cited by The Telegraph, Khamenei's absence from public view since assuming power has compounded uncertainty, leaving officials, military commanders and rival political factions to interpret his written statements differently. One Tehran-based analyst said, "Unless Mojtaba appears and takes control visibly, the Islamic Republic does not have a commander-in-chief," arguing that ambiguity at the top has become a greater challenge than external pressure itself.

By Vafa Guliyeva