Mojtaba Khamenei Aide’s ‘40 Years’ Warning Emerges as US Pushes Iran Deal

Iran’s senior security official, who reportedly received a letter from Vice President JD Vance about reviving peace talks, once warned that wartime negotiations with Tehran could continue for decades. During that period, he said, both sides would need to remain ready for combat.

Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is now secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and a close aide to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. He also played a central role in shaping Iran’s military strategy during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War.

The eight-year conflict ended only after Iran’s then-supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, agreed to a U.N.-brokered cease-fire—an outcome he famously compared with drinking from a “poisoned chalice.”

Senior Iranian general Mohsen Rezaei issued a direct warning to President Donald Trump as the United States repositioned an aircraft carrier amid escalating tensions with Tehran, according to reports. (Ayoub Ghaderi/YJC/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS)

“A cease-fire means the war remains unfinished,” Rezaei said in a 2006 interview with the Iranian publication Baztab. An English translation is archived by George Washington University’s National Security Archive.

When asked whether the two sides would hold their positions and enter negotiations, Rezaei answered: “Yes. Negotiations can take 30 to 40 years, and during that time Iran and Iraq should be prepared to fight.”

Nearly two decades after making that assessment, Rezaei has reportedly emerged as a figure Washington is trying to engage as it seeks a new diplomatic opening with Tehran.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Vance sent Rezaei a letter in October proposing that the United States and Iran resume peace negotiations.

Iranian state media confirmed receipt of the letter but said Tehran had not replied. The semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported that Iran was waiting for Washington to accept its conditions, adding that “any position that contradicts this framework is unacceptable.”

In June, President Donald Trump warned on Truth Social that Iran had taken too long to reach an understanding with the United States and would “pay the price.” On Monday, he said Tehran wanted an agreement but cautioned that any future U.S. strike could be roughly five times larger than the previous attack.

“We could knock it out fast, or we could knock it out over a short, not a long period of time,” Trump said during a C-SPAN interview on “Washington Journal Primetime.”

“I can tell you that Iran would like to make a deal, and we’ll find out whether that’ll happen,” Trump said when asked about the current window for diplomacy.

Rezaei, meanwhile, has continued to strike a confrontational tone toward Washington. In a Nov. 9 post on X, he wrote that “the war on Iran has already wrecked the US government,” claiming that “Washington flails like a desperate gambler.”

“FOLD YOUR HAND. STOP manufacturing FAKE NEWS about imaginary talks.

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“Stop denying the West Asian NEW ORDER. Time to SURRENDER to the seven conditions Iran has repeatedly set out,” he wrote.

After the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections, Rezaei also claimed that Iran had defeated the United States both militarily and politically.

He warned that any additional attack would trigger a “devastating response” and again said Washington’s time had come to “SURRENDER.”

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) generals and commanders Mohsen Rezaei (2nd L), Ali Fadavi (3rd L), Ahmad Vahidi (2nd R), and Hassan Hassanzadeh (R) attend a memorial service in Tehran on July 2, 2025, for IRGC commanders, nuclear scientists, and civilians killed in the Iran-Israel war. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Rezaei has also dismissed reports that U.S.-Iran negotiations are underway or that a meeting could take place in Qatar. He accused Washington of circulating false information to ease economic pressure and push oil prices lower, while repeating that Tehran would keep the Strait of Hormuz closed until its seven conditions were satisfied.

He has spent more than 40 years within Iran’s defense establishment. Rezaei led the IRGC from 1981 through 1997, including much of the Iran-Iraq War.

During the 2006 Baztab interview, he explained how Iran’s leaders separated their public declarations from the military calculations guiding the war.

While Ayatollah Khomeini and other officials publicly called for “fighting till Saddam is toppled” and continuing “until the nuisance is eradicated,” Rezaei said the real objective was “fighting up to a victory.”

Iran’s battlefield advances, he indicated, were intended to improve Tehran’s leverage at the negotiating table rather than lead to the complete conquest of Iraq.

Commanders and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps meet with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Aug. 17, 2023. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Reuters)

“The world did not pay attention to the slogans,” Rezaei said, arguing that foreign governments and intelligence agencies instead studied Iran’s actions and diplomatic positions.

He also acknowledged that Iran had struggled to convert military gains into diplomatic victories because it lacked strong international alliances and influence at the United Nations.

Rezaei has since become the target of U.S. sanctions and international scrutiny. The Trump administration sanctioned him on Jan. 10, 2020, under an executive order aimed at senior Iranian officials appointed by the supreme leader.

He has also been accused of involvement in the July 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, an attack that killed 85 people.

In 2007, Interpol approved Argentina’s request for a Red Notice against Rezaei in connection with the bombing.