TEHRAN – A senior advisor to Iran’s Leader has warned that President Donald Trump is “betraying” diplomacy for the third time in less than a year.

Mohsen Rezaei, a former chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), also cast doubt on Trump's professed commitment to diplomacy with Iran.

“As expected, the US president is betraying diplomacy for the third time. By maintaining the naval blockade and insisting on excessive demands in the negotiations, he has once again shown that he is not (genuinely) interested in talks and is pursuing other objectives,” Rezaei said.

The United States and Israel launched a war on Iran on February 28. The US and Israeli strikes targeted Iranian civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and residential buildings, in addition to military sites, killing thousands of people. Iran’s strong retaliatory military strikes against Israel and American military bases in the Persian Gulf region forced Washington to accept a Pakistani-mediated ceasefire after 39 days of war on April 8.

However, diplomatic efforts, mainly led by Pakistan, have so far failed to bring about a permanent end to the war. The aggression was carried out while Tehran and Washington were engaged in talks.

A similar scenario was repeated in June 2025. Tehran and Washington were engaged in negotiations when Israel launched a war on Iran, with the United States later joining the conflict.

Now, amid efforts by mediators, including Pakistan, to end the latest war, Trump and members of his cabinet have threatened to take new military action against Iran if Tehran does not give in to US demands.

One of Iran’s conditions for ending the war is the lifting of the US naval blockade. Washington imposed the blockade after Tehran-Washington talks in Islamabad on April 11 failed over what Iran described as Washington’s “excessive” demands.