Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani said Iran’s future depends not only on resisting US pressure but also on addressing serious domestic failures, warning that the country could otherwise “erode from within,” Al Jazeera reports.

Zakani, a prominent conservative figure, said there were three competing approaches inside Iran: making concessions to reach an understanding with Washington, resisting without adequately addressing the requirements of that resistance, or combining resistance with domestic reform.

“Resistance does not mean that we should ignore internal problems,” he said, according to IRGC-affiliated Tasnim. “Alongside standing against the enemy, we must reform the country from within and move toward building strength.”