A member of the Iranian Assembly of Experts threatens to shoot officials because of the Washington negotiations

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Iranian cleric Rahim Tawakkol, a member of the Leadership Council of Experts representing Mazandaran Province, threatened to shoot officials in Iran if they took steps he considered contrary to what he described as “the country’s pride,” in statements that addressed negotiations with the United States.

On Monday, October 19, 2026, the Iranian “Roydad 24” website published a video clip of Tawakkol saying: “If we load the weapon and put it on burst mode, our fingers will remain on the trigger. If you commit an action that contradicts our pride, we will empty an entire magazine of bullets for each of you.”

Tawakkol's threat came in the context of his warning Iranian officials against taking any steps that he described as affecting "the country's pride," vowing to shoot anyone who takes them, without specifying in the published statements the names of the officials he meant.

These statements come at a time when Iran faces a difference in positions regarding the course of negotiations with the United States, between calls to continue confrontation and pressure to reach an understanding that reduces the economic and political burdens.

The Leadership Council of Experts is a constitutional body responsible for selecting the Iranian leader and supervising the continued fulfillment of leadership conditions, while its membership in itself does not grant executive or military powers.

The use of the language of armed threats against officials within state institutions raises questions about the intensity of the political differences related to the negotiation file, although statements alone are not sufficient to prove the existence of an organized institutional division.