The BRICS TimesIran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi faces removal pressure from President Pezeshkian and Speaker Ghalibaf who accuse him of bypassing government authority and taking orders directly from the Revolutionary Guards chief instead.
A storm is quietly brewing inside Iran’s corridors of power. Even as Tehran navigates the fragile ceasefire with the United States brokered by Pakistan a serious internal rift has emerged. At its heart is a damaging accusation: that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been working not for the government, but for the Revolutionary Guards.
President and Speaker Turn Against Araghchi
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf are both pushing for Araghchi’s removal and they’re doing so together. Two sources close to the matter said both leaders believe Araghchi has been behaving less like a cabinet minister and more like a personal assistant to Ahmad Vahidi the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
According to these sources, Araghchi has over the past two weeks been coordinating directly with Vahidi and following his directives. Crucially, he did so without informing President Pezeshkian. The president has reportedly told people close to him that he will fire Araghchi if the behavior continues.
Ghalibaf Exits the Negotiating Table
The rift goes deeper. Three days before the situation became public, reports surfaced that Ghalibaf had already stepped down as the head of Iran’s negotiating team. The reported reason he was reprimanded for pushing to include the nuclear energy issue in the ongoing peace talks. That move apparently did not sit well with others inside the Iranian establishment.
After Ghalibaf’s exit, Araghchi moved quickly to position himself as the new point person for negotiations. He traveled to Islamabad on April 24 alone this time and handed over Tehran’s latest proposal to Pakistani officials. That proposal was subsequently rejected by US President Donald Trump.
It is worth noting that Ghalibaf had previously led Iran’s heavyweight delegation at the historic Islamabad Talks in mid-April the first direct, high-level engagement between the US and Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The 21-hour marathon ended without a deal, with the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program remaining the key sticking points.
The Iran–US Ceasefire Fragile and Under Pressure
The ceasefire itself remains on shaky ground. The two-week truce agreed on April 8 mediated by Pakistan after intense diplomatic pressure has already been violated by both sides. Trump later extended it indefinitely, though Iran dismissed that extension as “meaningless,” pointing to the continued US naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Iran’s joint military command issued a sharp warning if the US keeps up its “aggressive military actions, including naval blockades, banditry, and piracy,” it will face a strong response. Trump, meanwhile, told reporters he was “in no hurry” for a deal a remark that signals talks are far from a breakthrough.
Araghchi’s Diplomatic Sprint Pakistan, Oman, Russia
Despite the pressure at home, Araghchi has been running a feverish diplomatic circuit. He traveled to Islamabad, then flew to Oman where talks focused on the Strait of Hormuz before heading to Moscow. He also spoke by phone with his counterparts in Qatar and Saudi Arabia on the same day.
In Moscow, Araghchi met Russian President Vladimir Putin and described the two countries’ relationship as “a strategic partnership at the highest level.” Putin said Moscow would do everything possible to support Iran and mentioned receiving a message from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Kremlin also confirmed that Putin discussed the ceasefire extension with Trump by phone.
However, Russia’s support has remained mostly in words. Moscow has officially condemned the US-Israeli strikes on Iran as “unprovoked aggression” but has not delivered military hardware like the S-400 or the Sukhoi Su-35 jets Iran reportedly ordered in January 2025. That gap between rhetoric and action has not gone unnoticed especially among Iranians on social media.
Inside Iran; A Government Under Wartime Stress
The internal divisions are playing out at one of the worst possible moments. Iranian newspaper Ettela’at painted a stark picture the current ceasefire could hold, devolve into a limited maritime conflict, or spiral into a wider war. In any of those scenarios, providing for nearly 90 million Iranians their livelihoods, healthcare, education, food, housing and employment demands immediate and round-the-clock governance.
The paper warned that the government may need to roll out special wartime economic programs very soon and that it must act urgently. Whether Iran’s leadership can stay coherent enough to handle that challenge while fighting over who controls foreign policy is the bigger unanswered question.
