Iran's Pezeshkian Announces Meeting with Khamenei

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian announced on Thursday that he held a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, describing it as a direct and trusting dialogue that underscored unity among the country's top officials. The encounter, whose timing and location were not specified, marks the first reported in-person meeting between Pezeshkian and Khamenei since the supreme leader's appointment in early March.

Pezeshkian, speaking to trade union and market representatives, portrayed Khamenei's approach as marked by simplicity, humility, sincerity and mutual respect. "What stood out to me more than anything else in this meeting was Mojtaba Khamenei's manner, perspective, and deeply sincere and humble behaviour, an approach that transformed the atmosphere into one based on trust, calmness, empathy, and direct dialogue," he said, according to state media. The president emphasized the need to strengthen cohesion, trust and empathy across Iran's administrative management.

Khamenei assumed the supreme leader position after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in initial U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, which sparked a broader conflict....