Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf rebuffed US overtures for dialogue, warning that Iran will enforce an eye for an eye doctrine and explicitly target enemy infrastructure if attacked.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf explicitly rejected the prospect of a ceasefire with Israel and the United States, threatening immediate retaliation and infrastructure attacks if provoked. According to the opposition-leaning citizen journalist aggregator Vahid Online وحید آنلاین, Ghalibaf made the remarks in an X (formerly Twitter) post responding to US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. Witkoff had recently told CNBC that Donald Trump was open to dialogue and was waiting to see if Iran desired talks.
Ghalibaf forcefully dismissed the overture. The UK-based opposition network Iran International ایران اینترنشنال reported that the parliament speaker demanded severe punishment for any attackers, stating: "We must hit the mouth of the aggressor so they learn a lesson to never think of aggressing dear Iran again." The channel further quoted his condemnation of Israel: "Israel sees its shameful life in the continuation of the war-negotiation-ceasefire cycle and then war again to stabilize its dominance. We will break this cycle."
Pro-regime and hardline channels heavily amplified Ghalibaf's warnings of disproportionate escalation. The sensationalist pro-government channel خبرفوری جنگ🚨اخبارفوری امریکا فوری highlighted his declaration of a strict eye for an eye doctrine, quoting him as saying, "The enemy must know whatever they do, without a doubt we will have a proportionate and immediate response; no wickedness will remain unanswered." He also explicitly threatened structural targets, warning that if the enemy starts an infrastructure war, Iran will undoubtedly target infrastructures. This specific warning regarding infrastructure was also emphasized by the reformist-aligned حامیان پزشکیان.
Several other Iranian news aggregators, including خبرفوری ࡆ اخبارفوری مذاکره ࡆ جنگ فوری and اخبارفوری خبرفوری جنگ امریکا فوری, echoed these statements. They continuously circulated the parliamentary speaker's pledge to break the Zionist regime's disgusting history of cyclical warfare, demonstrating a unified domestic media front regarding the parliament's hardline stance on military deterrence.
Sources universally highlight Ghalibaf's X (formerly Twitter) post, though opposition and pro-regime outlets naturally emphasize different aspects of his rhetoric. Translation faithfully preserves the emotional charge and terms like Zionist regime and shameful life without sanitizing the language or using scare quotes.