The government of Iran began adorning Tehran this weekend with banners featuring images from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s disastrous White House visit, apparently using them to reaffirm a commitment to never engage in dialogue with Washington.
The state-run Mehr News Agency published images of the banners in Tehran, showing a dejected Zelensky and sporting various slogans. According to the dissident outlet Iran International, the banners feature a variety of different messages including “leaning on the wind,” meaning that the United States does not offer its allies reliable support, and “end of the mirage,” presumably of the U.S.-Ukraine alliance.
In response to Zelensky’s fraught exchange with Trump, Iranian “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also republished commentary he made 2022 in which he asserted that Ukraine could not rely on America as a trustworthy partner.
“The first lesson learnt from Ukraine’s issue is that support of Western powers for countries and governments, which are their puppets, is a mirage,” Khamenei had written, according to a translation by the regime’s Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). “All governments should understand this. Those governments, which rely on the U.S. and Europe, should look at the current situation in Ukraine.”
Ukraine and America have long maintained friendly relations and continue to do so. The episode on Friday attracting so much Iranian, and global, attention concerned a meeting scheduled with the intent to sign a bilateral agreement to help Ukraine develop its rare-earth and other valuable mineral reserves. The meeting devolved into an argument between Zelensky and Trump, with participation from Vice President JD Vance, when Zelensky appeared to criticize Trump and Vance for discussing diplomatic efforts to end the Russian invasion of his country and later ominously added that America would “feel” the consequences of that invasion at home.
Trump appeared to take significant offense to Zelensky’s commentary, asserting, “We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel, because you’re in no position to dictate that.” Trump ultimately expelled Zelensky from the White House, canceling a scheduled lunch, press conference, and the signing of the minerals agreement.
“He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Trump wrote in a social media statement shortly after Zelensky’s departure.
Despite the spat – and contrary to Iranian claims – the United States still supports the Ukrainian war effort and is a major player in brokering an end to the ongoing conflict. Zelensky indicated on Sunday that he remains open to signing the minerals agreement and returning to the White House if invited.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry nonetheless addressed the situation on Monday as if Trump had effectively cut off all diplomatic ties with Ukraine.
“We have always emphasized that security is not an imported commodity,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters during his regular briefing.
“In West Asia, particularly in the Persian Gulf, countries must rely on their own internal and regional capabilities to ensure security. No third party can be trusted or depended upon in this regard,” he asserted.
The Iranian government’s other arms also insisted on equating the friendly relationship between Kyiv and Washington to the adversarial one between Washington and Tehran.
“Zelensky’s victorious confrontation with Trump showed that one can negotiate with the devil and prevail,” Iran’s establishment newspaper said in a column on Sunday, according to Iran International. “Some believe negotiation with America is futile. But Zelensky demonstrated that with courage and clarity, one can not only resist pressure but emerge triumphant.”
The insistence on using the discussion between Zelensky and Trump as evidence that Iran should not attempt to improve relations with the Trump administration follows the launch of an ongoing campaign by Khamenei to rein in voices within his regime discussing the potential for new negotiations similar to the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, which was intended to halt the nation’s nuclear weapons development but has not had any meaningful impact on the situation. Khamenei himself declared in February that any diplomacy with America was “unintelligent and dishonorable.”
“Some people pretend that if we sit at the negotiating table, some problem will be solved, but the fact that we must understand correctly is that negotiating with the US has no effect on solving the country’s problems,” Khamenei asserted. “Negotiating with such a government is unwise, unintelligent and dishonorable and there should be no negotiation with it.”
Khamenei has increased the frequency of such rhetoric following the election of “moderate” President Masoud Pezeshkian, a surprise choice in a special election that followed the bizarre death of his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last year. Pezeshkian, falling in line with Khamenei, made remarks on Sunday admitting that he supported negotiations with America but claiming he no longer does.
“I believed that it would be better to engage in dialogue, but the Leader of the Revolution stated that we will not negotiate with the United States, and I also declared that we will not negotiate with the United States,” Pezeshkian told Parliament, according to IRNA.
“I may hold a belief, but when the Leader of the Revolution determines a direction, we must adjust ourselves accordingly and find the right path within that framework,” he added.
In another indication that pro-negotiation voices are being eliminated from Tehran, Pezeshkian’s vice president, Mohammad Javad Zarif, resigned on Monday, allegedly to remove pressure on Pezehskian from “hard-liner” political voices. Zarif previously served as Iranian foreign minister under former President Hassan Rouhani, a “moderate,” and was the top negotiator for Iran during the 2015 nuclear deal talks.
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