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Iranian President Pezeshkian Interviewed on US-Iran War

8 sources · updated 2026-09-26
Left 0% Center 100% Right 0%
0 left · 6 center · 0 right

What happened

In late September, during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told NBC News and other outlets that Tehran wanted an agreement with the United States before the November U.S. midterm elections, saying, “We don’t want it to get to the midterm elections,” and urging a return to a June memorandum of understanding that had outlined a temporary ceasefire in the U.S.-Iran war before collapsing over Strait of Hormuz shipping-lane disputes. Those remarks followed President Donald Trump’s statement to world leaders that he believed Iran would not settle the conflict until after the midterms. In a Fox News interview in the same period, Pezeshkian said Iran does not consider American elections, that “we will keep resisting,” and that the United States must choose whether to end the war. In a CBS News interview, he said that if Washington recommitted to the June deal’s terms, “everything will return to the way it was,” cited an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after seven days and restart talks, and said Iran would allow U.N. nuclear inspectors; White House spokesperson Anna Kelly replied that the Iranian regime had murdered its own people, killed Americans overseas, and launched attacks in the region, and that Trump was ensuring Iran never possesses a nuclear weapon.
Sourcing check · Fully on the record · 6 articles

3 of 3 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.

What these terms mean and how they're counted
On the record · names a source 3 of 3
On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Masoud Pezeshkian, President Masoud Pezeshkian and Margaret Brennan
Primary evidence · cites a document or data 1 of 3
Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: transcript
Credits another outlet 0 of 3
The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
Unnamed sources 0 of 3
The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
How it developed
When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Sep 25, 04:22 UTC by Breitbart, naming its source. First document 21 hours later, from CBS News (transcript).
Not counted 3
Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out

Unpacked

Left-leaning coverage presents Iran as seeking a deal before the U.S. midterms, while right-leaning coverage presents Iran as saying those elections do not matter. In the version carried by NBC, Pezeshkian says, "We don't want it to get to the midterm elections," framed as a rebuttal to President Trump. In the interview carried by Breitbart, he dismisses the American vote as irrelevant to Tehran's choices and says reaching an agreement is fine if the United States wants one. Left-leaning coverage leads with a pre-November bargain and a White House denunciation of the regime. Right-leaning coverage leads with a pledge to endure sanctions and the claim that Washington must decide whether the war ends. How can both of Thursday's answers be Iran's position on timing a deal?
Bottom line

NBC and Breitbart each ran only one of Pezeshkian's Thursday answers on whether Iran wants a deal before the midterms, so the timing story flips by outlet.

The receipts — 1 fact one side's coverage lacks
  • Pezeshkian said his government was open to inspections of its nuclear facilities official statementin NBC News · absent from right-leaning coverage
The Left View
NBC News and The Hill frame Pezeshkian’s NBC remarks as a direct pushback against Trump’s prediction that Tehran is waiting out the midterms, presenting Iran as seeking a deal now. They juxtapose that outreach with an NBC News Decision Desk Poll finding 31 percent approval and 69 percent disapproval of Trump’s handling of the Iran war, Democrats’ advantage heading into November, and Trump’s comment that he was considering whether to “annihilate” the country or make a deal. NBC also reports Pezeshkian said his government was “open” to nuclear-facility inspections and that assassinating Trump “has not been the position of the Iranian government,” and quotes Kelly’s line that Trump is “courageously ensuring that such an evil country never possesses a nuclear weapon.”
The Right View
Breitbart, drawing on Bret Baier’s Fox News interview, frames Pezeshkian as defiant rather than eager to settle on the U.S. electoral calendar. After Baier cited Iran’s own statistics of a 10 percent economic contraction, soaring inflation, a rial that lost more than half its value in a year, and oil loadings falling from about 2 million barrels a day to 250,000, Pezeshkian blamed the United States, said “We will keep resisting. We will find ways,” and that Iranians will “go through any hardship”; if America thinks sanctions will produce surrender, “they can take that into their dreams.” Asked about the midterms, he said, “We have nothing to do nor do we consider any type of American elections.” He said Iran does “not wish to fight at all” but will “stand resolutely to defend ourselves,” blamed Israel for imposing the war, and said “It’s America that must choose whether it wants to end this or not.”
Our Take (balanced)
The left-leaning coverage’s strongest argument is the NBC on-the-record language seeking a return to the June memorandum before November, which, paired with the 69 percent disapproval of Trump’s war handling, supports reading the UN-week comments as a time-sensitive offer timed to U.S. politics. The right-leaning coverage’s strongest argument is the Fox interview, in which the same president denied any connection to American elections and pledged indefinite resistance despite the cited collapse in oil loadings and the rial, supporting a reading of the outreach as tactical while the operative stance is endurance. The central unresolved tension is Pezeshkian’s contradictory statements to different outlets about whether Iran is racing the midterm clock—and thus whether the diplomatic push is a genuine pre-election opening or a resistance narrative that rejects U.S. electoral leverage.

8 sources

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