Former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has called for a national referendum on whether to continue Iran’s confrontation with the United States, stressing the need to respect the will of the people on this issue.
Iranian media published a video of Rouhani’s meeting on August 31 with several officials who served during his presidency.
During the meeting, Rouhani emphasised that official positions in the state are a public trust, and that no one has the right to govern unilaterally or by divine mandate.
The former president referred to the Prophet’s example of consulting the people, underscoring the importance of returning to citizens as the true holders of authority and power.
Rouhani’s remarks echo the positions of current President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, both of whom have expressed support for negotiations with the United States.
Meanwhile, US forces struck three Iranian oil tankers yesterday, US Central Command said, including one off the coast of Kharg Island, near Iran’s key oil export hub.
The exchange of attacks followed an escalation in the past week that threatens to deepen a conflict that has dragged on since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran in February, disrupting global energy supplies and drawing opposition from a majority of Americans before congressional elections in November.
US President Donald Trump said on August 31 in a one-line social media post accompanied by an AI-generated video that Kharg Island was being ‘blown to smithereens’.
Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and exported 90 per cent of its crude via Kharg Island before the war, but flows have been disrupted since a US blockade of Iranian oil exports began in mid-April.
Trump said on June 11 that he wanted to take over Kharg Island, but then said a threatened US military operation there was off the table for now, days before Tehran and Washington signed an interim agreement aimed at ending the war on June 17.
A US attack on Kharg would further pressure Iran’s oil industry and its wider economy, which is already reeling from the US naval blockade.
The US imposed its blockade on Iranian ports after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway that carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supply before the war.
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