Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his government would prefer to consolidate Iran's wartime gains through negotiation with the United States rather than remain in a state of neither war nor peace or resume direct fighting, Eghtesad Online reported on May 11.

Pezeshkian, addressing senior commanders of the Iranian Law Enforcement Command (FARAJA) at a meeting in Tehran, said the country faced three options after the recent war: enter talks from a position of dignity, authority and protection of national interests; remain suspended between war and peace; or continue on a path of conflict.

The Iranian president's comments come as US President Donald Trump writing on his social media platform: I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called “Representatives.” I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP," on May 10.

"The rational, logical preference, based on national interests, is for the victory achieved by the armed forces on the battlefield to be completed in the diplomatic arena, and for the rights of the Iranian people to be secured from a position of dignity and authority," Pezeshkian said.

The president invoked the Shia Saint Ali, saying, "Amir al-Mu'minin says: if the enemy invites you to peace, do not reject it; but after peace, do not be heedless of the enemy, never look upon him with optimism and never trust him," Pezeshkian said.

Pezeshkian said the Islamic Republic, while maintaining its distrust of the adversary, considered negotiations possible from a position of dignity, wisdom and expediency.

If an agreement were reached that took into account the concerns of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and the interests of the Iranian people, Iran would honour its commitments, the president said.

The address came as Iran handed Pakistani mediators its formal response to a US counter-proposal on ending the war, with the document focused on the cessation of hostilities and the security of navigation in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

Pezeshkian said Iran had faced a more complex, harder, more unfair and more unbalanced war than at any point in its recent history. He said the Iranian nation and the country's armed forces had succeeded in forcing the adversary to accept a ceasefire and halt the war.

The president paid tribute to those killed in the conflict, including what he called the martyred leader (Ali Khamenei), senior commanders and officials.

Pezeshkian called for a restructuring of Iran's police and security forces to decentralise operations, increase agility and broaden security coverage, with study groups to be activated to design new models suited to current conditions.