Qalibaf Says No US Talks Until Iran's Conditions Are Met

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament, said in a pre-agenda speech at Sunday's public session that there will be no opening for a return to previous conditions of negotiation with the United States, nor for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, until Iran's conditions are met, the legitimate rights of the Iranian nation are recognised, and US commitments are implemented. His remarks came ahead of the anniversary of the start of the first imposed war against Iran and Sacred Defence Week.

Qalibaf described Sacred Defence Week as not merely a rereading of a historical memory but a lived and tested experience for safeguarding independence and national dignity against enemy onslaught. He said Iran is repeating the same historical experience, with the difference that this time the resistance of the Iranian people not only guarantees Iran's security but, by shaping a new order in the region and the world, will bring openings in economic and strategic areas. "This valuable and historic stand by the people, just as it built today's powerful Iran in the 1980s, will today raise Iran to a new level of authority and flourishing," he said.

He said the coincidence of these days with the start of the school year carries a strategic message: "The classroom is the new trench of Sacred Defence and one of the pillars of national deterrence. The presence of Iranian students in the trenches of education keeps the flag of the nation's resistance raised." He added, "We will not allow the enemy's illusions to slow the pulse of life, production and knowledge in this land, because the unstoppable dynamism of schools is the manifestation of the enemy's strategic defeat in portraying a state of suspension."

Addressing the Iranian people, Qalibaf said, "Over the past seven months, we have shown that we are not passive in the face of aggression. Our logic in confronting the enemy is intelligent advance and the imposition of the Iranian nation's will." He said, "We believe the duality of war or negotiation is not real. Rather, we must both fight and negotiate. We must fight reasonably and powerfully, and at the appropriate time negotiate with authority and rationality." He explained, "That means at the necessary moment, with all the military power we have, we push the enemy back and inflict deadly blows on it. But when we have achieved significant battlefield victory and the enemy is weak, we consolidate these gains through diplomacy, so that by imposing defeat on the enemy and strengthening our own components of power, we reach the stage of deterrence."

Qalibaf said Iran's positions in the diplomatic arena are completely clear, rational and non-negotiable. "The transfer of messages and the explanation of our conditions through mediators have been carried out frankly with the other side, and the enemy knows well that the path of deception and one-sided imposition is closed," he said. He also said, "Today the old American order in West Asia has collapsed, and it is the Islamic countries of the region that must implement a new order." According to Mehr News, the remarks were made during the parliamentary session ahead of Sacred Defence Week.