Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Iranian parliament speaker leading Tehran's negotiating team for ending hostilities with the United States, stressed that Iran will take a hardline stance in talks with Washington.
"We win concessions through missiles, not dialogue, and in negotiations we merely make this fact understood (to the United States)," Ghalibaf wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday, local time. He added, "We do not trust guarantees or words at all, only actions are the standard," and said, "We will not implement any measure first before the other side takes corresponding action." He also stressed, "The winner of any agreement has always been the one who better prepares for war the day after the agreement."
The remarks reaffirm his hardline position as head of the negotiating team, even as reports and statements continue to suggest that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the United States and Iran to end hostilities is imminent. The message can be read both as pressure on the United States and as one directed at a domestic audience. Within Iran, the influence of hardline anti-American conservatives in religious circles, the military and political arenas — who view negotiations with the United States themselves as "treason against the regime" — cannot be ignored.
