Pezeshkian tells Iran's local leaders: we can emerge stronger from enemy threats

Iran's president isn't backing down. Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that his country can come out of the pressure campaign against it "more powerful," even as threats from "the enemy" keep piling up. He delivered the message at a meeting with provincial governors and mayors, according to Breaking The News.

The defiance came with a personal edge. "If the people are with us, the enemy can assassinate me and thousands like me, but they still won't be able to do a thing," Pezeshkian said. It's a stark line from a sitting president — and a signal that Tehran wants the confrontation framed as a test of public unity rather than one man's survival.

He also pushed power downward. Pezeshkian told governors and mayors to stop waiting on orders from the top and instead work together locally, pulling people inside their own organizations into the effort to fix problems. That's a notable ask in a system built on centralized control.

The backdrop is tense. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy Command claimed Monday that 11 oil tankers caught fire or sank in the Strait of Hormuz over a nine-day stretch. CENTCOM said over the weekend that 144 vessels have been redirected in the strait since the start of its operation.

Pressure is coming from other directions too. The European Union condemned continued Houthi escalation in Yemen on Monday, with foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas demanding the group's military action "must end immediately" and calling on backers including Iran to cut support. The EU said more than 22 million people in Yemen need assistance and stressed the importance of maritime security.

Meanwhile, UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei told the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference that his country will be "better prepared" if the US renews strikes on Iran, while calling developments unpredictable. In Beijing, Iran's Supreme National Security Council deputy secretary Ali Bagheri Kani said Tehran will "not make any compromises" on its security, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Markets barely flinched: WTI crude slid 4.22%, now at $99.53 a barrel, while gold added 0.61%, now at $3,902.27, and US equity indexes closed higher.