Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday that he had approved a deal with the United States to end the Middle East war despite having a "different view," without elaborating.
"In principle, I had a different view (about the memorandum of understanding), but I issued my permission due to the commitment that the honourable (Iranian) president, as the chairman of the Supreme National Security Council, gave me on behalf of himself and other members to protect the rights of the Iranian nation and the Resistance Front," Khamenei said in message read out on state television
Khamenei has not been seen in public since he took office in March following the killing of his father and predecessor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February that sparked the regional war.
The message was his first reaction to the Iran-US framework deal to end the conflict that was signed by US Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Khamenei said Trump had "used all kinds of levers" to secure the deal "out of desperation."
