Iran has no intention of negotiating with the United States and can continue the Middle East war for as long as needed, Mohammad Mokhber, a senior aide to the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told state TV.
He told the broadcaster that Iran had “no trust in the Americans and we have no basis for any negotiations with them”, adding that: “We can continue the war as long as we want.”
Earlier, Iran said it will hold a three-day state funeral for supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes, official news agency Irna said.
“Starting at 10:00 pm (1830 GMT), the faithful will be able to pay a final homage to the body of the martyred guide of the nation, by visiting the Imam Khomenei grand mosque” in Tehran, Irna said, citing a statement from the Islamic Development Coordination Council.
Khamenei was 86 years old when he was killed, and will be buried in his home city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran.
Khamenei’s widow said his death is “historically significant” but will not “automatically” lead to the fall of the Iranian system.
The widow of the country’s last shah told AFP in an interview on Tuesday.
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“The passing of a man — however central he may be to the architecture of power — does not automatically mean the end of a system,” said Farah Pahlavi, three days after US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic killed Khamenei.
“What will be decisive,” said the 87-year-old, was “the ability of the Iranian people to unite around a peaceful, orderly and sovereign transition to a state governed by the rule of law”, which she added her son Reza Pahlavi “is in the process of preparing”.
The widow, who has lived in exile in Paris since being driven out of Iran with her husband in the 1979 revolution, urged the international community to respect the right of people in Iran to choose their own path forward.
“What I want is for the international community to clearly support the fundamental rights of Iranians: the right to choose their leaders, to express themselves freely, to live in dignity and prosperity,” she said.
“The support must go to the people, not to geopolitical calculations.”
Pahlavi also called on Iranian authorities “to show restraint and avoid any bloodshed”.
Unrest in Tehran in January prompted a violent crackdown, with the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) recording more than 7,000 deaths, mostly protesters, while warning the full toll was probably higher.
Reza Pahlavi has positioned himself as an alternative if the Islamic republic falls.
In an X post on Tuesday, he called for national unity from Iranian ethnic minorities and appeared to urge them not to use the current conflict to press for separation.
US-based Pahlavi has not been to Iran since before the 1979 revolution.
