Pezeshkian: Qatari-Pakistani mediation ongoing, but we’ve lost faith in US as a negotiating partner

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian tells Al Jazeera that Qatar and Pakistan are still mediating between Washington and Tehran, but that his country has lost faith in the US as a negotiating partner.

“We no longer have faith in Washington after the attacks and sanctions that have followed all negotiations,” Pezeshkian says in an interview. “Qatar and Pakistan are currently mediating between Iran and the US and are conveying our messages to Washington.”

The talks are based on the short-lived Memorandum of Understanding that the US and Iran signed in June and which later fell apart over disputes about the Strait of Hormuz, according to Pezeshkian.

“Solving the crisis around the strait is possible only through negotiations, not through use of force,” he says, adding that security will be achieved through regional cooperation, and that “we don’t need a regional policeman.”

“We’ve withstood the US-Israeli attacks, and will continue to stand firm,” he says.

Pezeshkian also denies that Iran is involved in the renewed fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

“Tehran is prepared to help solve the Saudi-Yemeni conflict,” he says, adding that Iran “will not be a party to igniting wars in the region.”

In a separate interview with CBS, Pezeshkian also claims Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “completely healthy.”

“He has no issues,” the president says, citing his own training as a doctor.

Khamenei has not been seen in public since becoming supreme leader after his father and predecessor Ali Khamenei was killed in the opening strikes of the US-Israeli offensive on February 28. The younger Khamenei was reportedly injured in the attack.

Pezeshkian says he has since met twice with the new supreme leader, with the second meeting lasting “seven-plus hours,” according to a transcript provided by CBS.

Asked by the network whether Khamenei’s “legs and his face have recovered,” and whether he was “able to sit on the ground” in the meetings with Pezeshkian, the president says yes to both questions.

“We changed angles and positions, we crossed our legs and so on. But, of course, he was healthy enough to be able to withstand those hours of that situation,” Pezeshkian tells CBS.