Hmmmm. Which countries might those be? Are those "countries" in the room with us right now?
Masoud Pezeshkian made this odd claim on X/Twitter earlier today, presumably from the Tehran hospital where he and Ali Larijani reportedly hold court. It's curious enough that the embattled Iranian president has Internet access; perhaps he has a Starlink connection, or perhaps someone outside of Iran now manages his account. His claim is even more curious, given the Iranian missile and drone attacks all across the region:
Some countries have begun mediation efforts. Let's be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region yet we have no hesitation in defending our nation's dignity & sovereignty. Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict https://t.co/MxWCuNYOYR
— Masoud Pezeshkian (@drpezeshkian) March 6, 2026
Really? Iran's regime did have mediators working on its behalf before the launch of Operations Epic Fury (US) and Roaring Lion (Israel) six days ago. Both Oman and Qatar tried to get Pezeshkian and Ali Khamenei to cut a deal with the US on the regime's nuclear-weapons development, and with the rest of the Gulf states on their ballistic missile systems and support for Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Pezeshkian et al played all of them for fools, assuming that Donald Trump wouldn't dare to do what he's, er, been doing for almost a solid week now – and what he did to Nicolas Maduro a few weeks earlier, not to mention what Trump did to Iran last June, too.
What makes this claim especially curious is the rain of missiles and drones on the very same countries that Iran chose as mediators. Even Oman got attacked by Iran in this war, despite its overall friendly posture to Tehran, which is why Abbas Araghchi insisted on holding talks in Muscat in the final run-up to hostilities. Qatar has had to defend against a constant rain of both missiles and drones. Tehran even shot a missile at Turkey, perhaps its friendliest neighbor in the region, prompting a diplomatic rebuke.
If anything, "some countries" in the region have taken the proper lesson from these attacks. Reportedly, they have been urging the US to finish the job in Iran and completely defenestrate its offensive military capacities, at the very least. Others are taking more direct action; the Saudis want to get into the war on offense after several drone and missile attacks on Riyadh. The United Arab Emirates wants to seize Iran's assets:
The United Arab Emirates is weighing freezing billions of dollars of Iranian assets held in the Gulf state, according to people familiar with the discussions, a move that could sever one of Tehran’s most important economic lifelines.
If the U.A.E. goes ahead, it would significantly curb Tehran’s access to foreign currency and global trade networks as its domestic economy, already buckling under inflation, is now engulfed in a military conflict.
Emirati officials have privately warned Iran—which has fired more than 1,000 drones and missiles at targets in the U.A.E.—of the possible action, people familiar with the warnings said. It isn’t clear when, or if, the Emirati government will decide to act. ...
The U.A.E. has for years functioned as a financial hub for Iranian businesses and individuals seeking a haven from Western sanctions, according to analysts tracking Tehran’s activities and the U.S. Treasury. Iran’s sanctions-evasion infrastructure has allowed Tehran to keep selling oil abroad and use the proceeds to fund weapons programs and regional proxies, they say.
That doesn't sound like a country offering to "mediate" anything, let alone on Pezeshkian's terms while he cowers in maternity wards in Tehran.
In fairness, two countries may be trying to mediate an end to this conflict, but only because Iran's intransigence has become a strategic nightmare for them: Russia and China. Iran supplied Russia with drones needed for Vladimir Putin's insane and incompetent war on Ukraine, in which Putin couldn't achieve in four years what the US achieved in four days with Operation Epic Fury. China desperately needs Iranian oil, so much so that it halted exports of refined oil products this week. Neither Putin nor Xi Jinping will bother to mediate on Iran's terms, though; they're smart enough to realize that ship not only has sailed, it got hit by a torpedo, broke into multiple pieces, and sank. To get rescued, the Iranians will need to make massive concessions, perhaps some just short of existential risk.
At any rate, Donald Trump offered his terms for "mediation" shortly afterward:
There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER! After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. IRAN WILL HAVE A GREAT FUTURE. “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!).” Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
Pezeshkian had better choose soon. Israel announced a new intensification effort this morning, and claimed to have taken out more "senior members" of the regime while destroying Ali Khamenei's command bunkers:
Khamenei Bunker this morning, Ideal assessment; multiple seniors have been eliminated
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) March 6, 2026
We will wait and see. pic.twitter.com/EVpVXerpUA
The underground bunker of Iran’s former supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was destroyed by the Israeli Air Force this morning, the military says.
Some 50 IAF fighter jets dropped around 100 bombs on the site, which the IDF says was located under Iran’s “leadership complex” in Tehran, spreading across multiple streets and including “many entry points and rooms for gatherings of senior members of the Iranian terror regime.”
“The underground bunker was built beneath the compound and was a secure emergency asset for managing the war by the leader, who was eliminated before he managed to use it,” the military says.
The military says that after Khamenei was killed in a strike on Saturday, “the compound continued to be used by senior members of the Iranian regime.”
There may not be much left to mediate soon, or even to surrender either. Perhaps Pezeshkian should consider his terms more carefully in the future.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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