Mojtaba Khamenei Aide’s Chilling “40 Years” Warning Emerges Amid US Push for Iran Deal

Iran’s top security official, who reportedly received a letter from Vice President JD Vance proposing a return to peace talks, once warned that negotiations with Tehran during wartime could continue for decades. He said both countries would need to remain ready for further conflict.

Mohsen Rezaei, the former commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is now secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and a senior aide to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. He played a central role in shaping Iran’s military strategy during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War.

The eight-year war ended after Iran’s then-supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, agreed to a U.N.-brokered cease-fire that he famously compared to drinking from a “poisoned chalice.”

Iranian Gen. Mohsen Rezaei has issued a direct warning to President Donald Trump as the United States repositions an aircraft carrier amid escalating tensions with Tehran, according to reports. (Ayoub Ghaderi/YJC/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS)

“A cease-fire means an unfinished war,” Rezaei said in a 2006 interview with the Iranian publication Baztab. An English translation is archived by George Washington University’s National Security Archive.

When asked whether the two sides would hold their positions and enter negotiations, Rezaei answered: “Yes. Negotiations can take 30 to 40 years, and during that time Iran and Iraq should be prepared to fight.”

Nearly 20 years after suggesting that diplomacy could stretch across decades, Rezaei is reportedly the target of a renewed U.S. effort to open talks with one of Iran’s most influential military figures.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Vance sent Rezaei a letter in October proposing that the United States and Iran resume peace negotiations.

Iranian state media said the country had received Vance’s letter but had not replied. The semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported that Tehran was waiting for Washington to accept its demands, declaring that “any position that contradicts this framework is unacceptable.”

In June, President Donald Trump warned on Truth Social that Iran had taken too long to reach an understanding and would “pay the price.” On Monday, he said Tehran wanted an agreement but cautioned that any future U.S. strike could be roughly five times larger than the previous operation.

“We could knock it out fast, or we could knock it out over a short, not a long period of time,” Trump said in a C-SPAN interview on “Washington Journal Primetime.”

Trump said Iran appeared interested in reaching a deal, adding that it remained to be seen whether an agreement could be achieved within the current timeframe.

Rezaei, however, has continued to challenge Washington. In a Nov. 9 post on X, he wrote that “the war on Iran has already wrecked the US government” and said Washington was “flailing like a desperate gambler.”

“FOLD YOUR HAND. STOP manufacturing FAKE NEWS about imaginary talks,” he wrote.

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“Stop denying the West Asian NEW ORDER. Time to SURRENDER to the seven conditions Iran has repeatedly set out,” he added.

After the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections, Rezaei claimed that Iran had defeated the United States both militarily and politically.

He also threatened a “devastating response” to any further attack and said Washington’s time had come to “SURRENDER.”

IRGC commanders Mohsen Rezaei, Ali Fadavi, Ahmad Vahidi and Hassan Hassanzadeh attend a memorial service in Tehran on July 2, 2025, for commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians killed during the Iran-Israel war. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Rezaei has also dismissed reports of active U.S.-Iran negotiations or a planned meeting in Qatar. He accused Washington of promoting false claims to reduce economic pressure and push oil prices lower, while repeating that Tehran would keep the Strait of Hormuz closed until its seven conditions were accepted.

He has spent more than 40 years in Iran’s defense establishment, including a tenure as IRGC commander from 1981 to 1997, when he directed Iranian operations during the Iran-Iraq War.

During the 2006 Baztab interview, Rezaei explained how Iran’s leaders separated public slogans from the country’s operational military strategy.

While Ayatollah Khomeini and other officials publicly called for “fighting till Saddam is toppled” and continuing “until the nuisance is eradicated,” Rezaei said Iran’s real objective was to keep fighting “up to a victory.”

He suggested that Iran’s gains on the battlefield were intended to improve its leverage at the negotiating table, rather than lead to the complete conquest of Iraq.

Members and commanders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps meet with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Aug. 17, 2023. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Reuters)

“The world did not pay attention to the slogans,” Rezaei said, explaining that foreign governments and intelligence services instead studied Iran’s actions and diplomatic positions.

He also acknowledged that Iran had difficulty converting military gains into diplomatic achievements because it lacked strong international partnerships and influence at the United Nations.

Rezaei has faced U.S. sanctions and extensive international scrutiny. The Trump administration sanctioned him on Jan. 10, 2020, under an executive order aimed at senior Iranian officials appointed by the supreme leader.

He has also been accused of involvement in the July 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, an attack that killed 85 people.

Interpol approved Argentina’s request for a Red Notice against Rezaei in 2007 in connection with the bombing.