Iranian Hardliners Move to Impeach Foreign Minister Araghchi
Paydari Front MPs say Araghchi met US envoy Witkoff without authorization; security chief Mohsen Rezaei says the New York talks were approved.
TEHRAN — A group of hardline Iranian lawmakers has filed a motion to impeach Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi over his September talks with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, exposing a public split inside the Islamic Republic over whether to negotiate an end to the seven-month war with the United States.
Mohammad Rashidi, a member of parliament’s presiding board, confirmed on October 6 that the request had been registered in the parliamentary system, but said it had not yet been referred to the board or placed on the agenda, Euronews Persian reported.
The case against Araghchi
The motion is led by Amirhossein Sabeti of the hardline Paydari Front. Its backers argue that Araghchi’s meeting with Witkoff on September 22, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, took place without authorization from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei or coordination with the Supreme National Security Council.
The talks, with Qatar acting as intermediary, focused on conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, according to Euronews. Araghchi set out Tehran’s demands there: an immediate lifting of the U.S. naval blockade, the immediate transfer of frozen Iranian assets and an end to fighting on all fronts. President Donald Trump rejected the proposal.
Sabeti cited “crossing red lines” in the negotiations, “serious miscalculations” in political analysis and mishandling of the U.S. file as the main grounds. A second signatory, MP Hosseinali Hajideligani, accused Araghchi of “repeatedly, through targeted interviews, helping to lower oil prices for the United States.”
Top security official contradicts the motion
The central allegation was disputed by Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. “It was agreed that Mr Araghchi, during his trip to New York, would convey Iran’s conditions to the intermediaries,” Rezaei said, indicating the talks had prior approval from Iran’s senior leadership.
Other conservatives pushed back as well. MP Ruhollah Lak Aliabadi said impeaching the foreign minister “in this wartime situation” was “definitely not in the country’s interest” and could send “a sign of weakness to the enemy.” He said that during a recent four-and-a-half-hour parliamentary session with Araghchi, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps phoned the minister at least three times, which he cited as evidence that diplomacy and the military were coordinating. Political figure Mansour Haghighatpour said: “You do not change saddles in wartime.”
Alireza Salimi, a signatory who also sits on the presiding board, told Mehr news agency that filing the motion does not mean Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf supports it or that it will reach the floor. Ghalibaf is himself one of Iran’s main negotiators with Washington.
Araghchi’s standing
Hardliners have put Araghchi’s name on impeachment lists several times over the past two years, Euronews reported. After he returned from New York, the foreign ministry formally described him as a member of Iran’s six-person decision-making team, a signal that he retains the leadership’s confidence.
The motion comes as both governments harden their public positions. President Masoud Pezeshkian said on October 5 that talks with Washington were “futile,” telling Armenia’s foreign minister that the U.S. had “attacked us three times following talks so far,” according to IRNA as cited by Al Jazeera. Araghchi, addressing foreign ambassadors on October 4, said “only negotiations based on justice and fairness” could end the conflict.
On the U.S. side, Vice President JD Vance told Reuters that any deal must include a “meaningful” reduction in Iran’s uranium enrichment, and said Washington was talking to Pezeshkian and Araghchi although “it’s not totally clear how their country makes decisions.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Athens on October 7 that Iran had “failed to take advantage of multiple opportunities” to reach a nuclear agreement.
What it means
Analysis: Even if the motion stalls, it shows that the faction most opposed to a deal is willing to challenge the official who carries Iran’s terms to Washington, at the moment U.S. officials say they are unsure who in Tehran makes decisions. Rezaei’s public defense of the New York meeting suggests the security establishment is not, for now, abandoning the negotiating channel.
Sources
- Euronews: Hardline Iranian MPs move to impeach foreign minister
- Al Jazeera: US sets new demands for Iran deal: What are they?
- CNBC: Rubio says Iran passed up ‘multiple’ chances for nuclear deal
