Iranian Officials Try to Project Sense of Normalcy, Though Nothing Is Normal

New York Times

4 hours ago

Iran was reeling from American military attacks on its three main nuclear sites early Sunday, with four officials describing the mood in the government as one of defeat and national humiliation, amid divisions about how to respond.
Publicly, Iranian officials have tried to project a sense of normalcy even though nothing is normal. They have tried to downplay the damage to the nuclear facilities at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan, even though satellite images show the mountainous site of Fordo's underground facilities punctured with huge holes.
But Hamid Hosseini, a member of the country's Chamber of Commerce energy committee, said in a phone interview from Tehran that Iran did not have the upper hand — militarily and technologically — and that it was time to stand down.
'We need to make national interests the priority,' he said. 'We are not supposed to be at war forever.'
On Sunday, Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, made public rounds in the capital, stopping at an anti-American demonstration in downtown Tehran and visiting patients of victims of the attacks at a hospital. A heart surgeon and former health minister, he praised the medical staff members for their service during the war.
In a post on social media, Mr. Pezeshkian wrote: 'We will walk this path together. We will protect Iran and show the world that our great people are undefeatable.'
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.