{"id":225474,"date":"2026-09-25T12:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T12:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/irans-president-says-tehran-wants-a-deal-with-u-s-before-midterm-elections-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T12:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T12:06:16","slug":"irans-president-says-tehran-wants-a-deal-with-u-s-before-midterm-elections-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/irans-president-says-tehran-wants-a-deal-with-u-s-before-midterm-elections-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s president says Tehran wants a deal with U.S. before midterm elections – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian<\/a> on Thursday suggested his government was willing to make a deal with the U.S. to end the war<\/a> before Americans head to the polls this November.
\u201cWe don\u2019t want it to get to the midterm elections,\u201d Pezeshkian said in a brief meeting with NBC News and other news organizations on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly<\/a>.
\u201cWe wish Americans to return to the MOU before the midterms,\u201d Pezeshkian added, referring to a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran that laid out plans for a temporary ceasefire. The agreement, signed in June, eventually collapsed.
Iran\u2019s president strikes a defiant tone at U.N. after Trump threats
In response to NBC News\u2019 request for comment, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: \u201cThe Iranian regime has murdered thousands of its own people, killed Americans overseas, executed acts of terrorism in the Strait of Hormuz, and launched indiscriminate attacks against its neighbors in the region.\u201d
\u201cThe President is courageously ensuring that such an evil country never possesses a nuclear weapon, which will make the entire world safer and more stable,\u201d Kelly added.
Pezeshkian\u2019s comments came two days after President Donald Trump<\/a> said in a speech to world leaders at the U.N. that he believed the Iranian regime would not make a deal to settle the conflict until after the fall elections<\/a>.
\u201cI believe we\u2019ll make a deal right after the election because it doesn\u2019t make sense for them not to,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThey\u2019re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election.\u201d
Polls show Democrats with an advantage heading into the November contests. The latest NBC News Decision Desk Poll <\/a>found 31% of respondents approved of Trump\u2019s handling of the Iran war, while 69% disapproved.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a group of reporters in a separate briefing in New York on Thursday that a plan has been presented to U.S. officials through mediators during talks this week that would lead to the opening of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> and the resumption of talks after seven days.
Araghchi said the plan could begin as soon as the U.S. agreed to it and maintained that the plan did not go beyond the agreement signed by Trump in June, commonly referred to as a memorandum of understanding.
\u201cWe have introduced a plan to the United States through the intermediators that, if certain conditions are met, the Strait of Hormuz will be open at the end of seven days and talks will be restarted,\u201d Araghchi said. \u201cThe conditions we have asked the U.S. to meet is nothing new, nothing more than what was already in the Islamabad agreement, which was signed by the U.S. president.\u201d
Araghchi pointed out that one of the conditions of the plan is for the U.S. to accept a maritime transit route through the Strait of Hormuz that has been agreed upon by Iran and Oman<\/a>.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump on Tuesday also defended the conflict and said he was considering whether to \u201cannihilate\u201d the country or make a deal.
Trump has repeatedly said that the goal of attacking Iran was to prevent the development of a nuclear weapon. Soon after the war started, Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which some 20% of the world\u2019s oil flowed before the conflict, sending shock waves through the world economy.
In the exchange with news organizations, Pezeshkian said he has met with the Islamic Republic\u2019s new leader twice \u2014 including a month ago, for seven hours.
Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei<\/a> assumed the role in early March after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a>, was killed in an Israeli attack that also killed family members and other senior leaders.
Pezeshkian said he did not see \u201cany issues with his health or physical appearance\u201d in their meetings, adding that they sat on the floor on traditional pillows. Mojtaba Khamenei was severely injured in the strike that killed his father, three people with knowledge of the matter told NBC News in July<\/a>, with burns to his face and body and wounds that have required several operations to one of his legs.
Iran\u2019s president briefly addressed other pressing issues affecting the relationship between Tehran and Washington. He said his government was \u201copen\u201d to inspections of its nuclear facilities, which the regime has long maintained are for civilian purposes, and he insisted the regime was not seeking to assassinate the American president.
\u201cThis has not been the position of the Iranian government that we seek to assassinate President Trump or his family members,\u201d Pezeshkian said.
The <\/a>Justice Department charged an Iranian man in November in an alleged murder-for-hire effort<\/a> to kill Trump when he was the Republican presidential candidate in 2024.
Two others were charged with planning to kill an Iranian American journalist and activist who has criticized the Iranian government over its treatment of women<\/a>.
U.S. authorities said the plot was part of Iran\u2019s efforts to avenge the death of a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani<\/a>, who was killed in Baghdad in a U.S. drone strike Trump ordered during his first term in the White House.
Pezeshkian has previously denied an Iranian plot to kill Trump, telling NBC News\u2019 Lester Holt<\/a> in Tehran last year that the regime would \u201cnever\u201d do so.
Tom Llamas is the anchor of "Nightly News" and "Top Story" on NBC News.
Daniel Arkin is a senior reporter at NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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