ISTANBUL: Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf on Monday said that no negotiations have taken place with the US, dismissing reports of talks as “fake news” aimed at manipulating financial and oil markets, Anadolu Ajansi reported.
“No negotiations have been held with the United States. These fake news reports are meant to manipulate financial and oil markets and to escape the quagmire the US and Israel are stuck in,” Qalibaf said on X.
He added that the Iranian people demand a “complete and regret-inducing punishment of aggressors,” stressing that all officials stand firmly behind the country’s leadership and the public until that goal is achieved.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that over the past few days, messages had been conveyed through “friendly countries” indicating a US request for negotiations to end the war, adding that Iran responded in line with its “principled positions,” Anadolu Ajansi reported.
Speaking to the official IRNA news agency, he said Iran’s responses included warnings about the “serious consequences” of any attack on the country’s vital infrastructure, stressing that any action targeting Iran’s energy facilities would be met with a “decisive, immediate, and effective” response by its armed forces.
Baghaei also denied that any negotiations or dialogue with the US had taken place over the past 24 days since the outbreak of what he described as the “imposed war.”
He added that Iran’s position regarding the Strait of Hormuz and the conditions for ending the war “has not changed.”
Regional tensions have escalated since the US and Israel launched a joint offensive on Iran on Feb. 28, with reported casualties exceeding 1,300 people.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, along with Jordan, Iraq and Gulf countries hosting US military assets, causing casualties, damage to infrastructure and disruptions to global markets and aviation. – BERNAMA-ANADOLU
