Two days after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Tehran “should not hesitate for even an hour” if international sanctions could be lifted, Iran’s hardline newspapers and Khamenei’s own website have criticized reformist dailies for highlighting this part of the leader’s speech.

A range of outlets including Kayhan, Vatan Emrooz, Resalat and the Revolutionary Guards-linked news agency Tasnim all accused the reformist media of distorting Khamenei’s message. Kayhan published screenshots of front pages from reformist dailies that those supporting President Hassan Rouhani – all splashing Khamenei’s words, which were seen by many international analysts as Khamenei’s green light for negotiations with the United States and world powers over reviving Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Kayhan, which is funded by Khamenei’s office, called the behavior of reformist papers an “organized distortion” of Khamenei’s statement and “serving the interests of those who have been sanctioning Iran for years.”

In his speech, Khamenei had also urged to prioritize “breaking” US sanctions, meaning circumventing restrictions.

Oil specialists have reported a significant increase in Iran’s oil exports in recent months – the largest reported figure being 1.2 million barrels a day from 481,000 in February, according to TankerTrackers.

‘Lifting sanctions’ presupposes negotiations. Breaking them means finding ways to do business despite US sanctions. The fundamentalist media is presenting these as sharp alternatives.

Khamenei differentiated “lifting” from “nullifying” the measure. “The lifting of sanctions is in the hands of the enemy, but nullifying them is in our hands,” he said. “Thus, we need to focus more on nullifying them than on having them lifted.”

Mohammad Rahbar, an Iran International analyst, told the London-based television station on Saturday hard-liners, who opposed the 2015 deal, were angry because they believed Rouhani had hijacked the statement as approval for negotiations with the West. Rahbar added that Iranian newspapers of various political orientation usually highlight the part of Khamenei’s speeches that best resonates with their own views.

Mehdi Mahdavi Azad, another Iranian analyst, told Iran International TV that what Khamenei said was similar to his ‘heroic flexibility’ speech of 2014 that allowed negotiations with the US and other world powers. Mahdavi Azad added that principlists were angered by Khamenei’s latest statement contradicting their rhetoric of the past two months that negotiations with the US would not take place whatever the cost for Iran.

Mahdavi Azad argued that that a content analysis of Khamenei’s speeches during the presidencies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump had indicated that he used three times as many harsh words against Obama as against Trump.  Mahdavi Azad suggested that in both domestic politics and internationally, Khamenei usually “pleaded” when weak and vulnerable and “behaved arrogantly as soon as he thinks he in is in control of the situation.” Nonetheless, he concluded that Khamenei would not wish to be portrayed as someone giving in to US pressures. 

Rahbar suggested that Khamenei’s staunch supporters among hardliners regarded him as weak and old, and therefore wanted to portray him as an uncompromising figurehead. While Khamenei’s statement over Iran “not hesitating an hour” if sanctions might be lifted remains on his website in several languages, Khamenei also warned against trusting the “enemy” or their “promises regarding solving the problems of the people.”