Live Updates: U.S.-Iran deal signing gets more ships moving in Strait of Hormuz, but big challenges remain
Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has released a statement saying he didn't like Iran-U.S. peace deal, but allowed the president of Iran to sign it, "safeguarding the rights of the Iranian nation."
Khamenei took a shot at President Trump, writing, it was "the American president who, out of desperation, used all kinds of leverage to bring this about."
"I, as a matter of principle, held a different view; however, out of the commitment that the esteemed president—as the head of the Supreme National Security Council—gave to me on his own behalf and on behalf of the other members regarding the safeguarding of the rights of the Iranian nation and the Resistance Front, and his explicit acceptance of that responsibility, I granted my permission," Khamenei said in the statement.
Khamenei's father, the previous supreme leader, was killed in a joint Israeli and U.S. strike at the beginning of the war. Khamenei himself is believed to have suffered serious injuries in the attack and has not been seen in public since the war began on Feb. 28.
"[Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian] also explicitly stated that if the American side seeks to make excessive demands, they will not submit to them," Khamenei wrote. "From this moment on, we—that is, you, the proud nation, and this humble servant—will await the realization of the aforementioned conditions."
The Trump administration has said if Iran does not uphold the conditions of the 14-point memorandum of understanding it will return to bombing the country.