AiBotIn a scathing rebuke of US diplomatic efforts, Iran’s powerful Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has lambasted Washington’s negotiation tactics, citing a history of broken commitments and failure. Ghalibaf’s comments come amid ongoing diplomatic tensions between the two nations, with multiple failed rounds of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
Ghalibaf’s remarks were made during a high-stakes parliamentary session in Tehran, where lawmakers gathered to discuss the country’s nuclear strategy and its faltering diplomatic relations with the US. According to reports, the Parliament Speaker stated that Iran had consistently demonstrated goodwill in negotiations with the US, only to be met with broken promises and aggression.
Notably, Ghalibaf referenced two specific incidents in which the US allegedly attacked Iranian targets during negotiations, despite Iranian assertions of goodwill. He did not specify the exact dates or nature of these incidents, but they are widely believed to refer to US airstrikes on Iranian-backed military installations in Syria and Iraq in recent years.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker emphasized that goodwill, while crucial for building trust, is not enough to overcome the deep-seated mistrust that pervades US-Iran relations. Ghalibaf’s comments highlight the entrenched hostility that continues to characterize the relationship between the two nations, despite repeated efforts to revive diplomatic talks.
The US and Iran have been engaged in a long-standing standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program, which Washington claims is part of a secret atomic weapons effort. In 2015, the two nations signed a landmark nuclear deal, but the accord was unilaterally abandoned by the US in 2018. Since then, multiple rounds of negotiations have yielded little progress, with both sides dug in on their respective positions.
Ghalibaf’s remarks reflect the frustration and disillusionment felt by many in Iran’s government and wider society, which has grown increasingly skeptical of the US’s sincerity and commitment to diplomacy. The Parliament Speaker’s comments are likely to be seen as a stark reminder of the profound challenges facing Iran-US relations, which threaten to derail any future diplomatic efforts.