While Iran says it has responded to the latest US proposal for ending the conflict, leading officials have issued defiant statements about the prospects for negotiations.
“We will never bow our heads before the enemy, and if talk of dialogue or negotiation arises, it does not mean surrender or retreat,” Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said in a post on X.
“Rather, the goal is to uphold the rights of the Iranian nation and to defend national interests with resolute strength,” he added.
“Time is moving against the Americans. It is in their interest not to act recklessly and sink themselves deeper into the quagmire they have fallen into,” posted a member of the Iranian parliament’s security committee, Ebrahim Rezaie.
“The best option is to surrender and make concessions. You must adapt to the new regional order,” Rezaie said.
The hardline deputy speaker of parliament, Ali Niksad, said the United States had chosen to test its “luck against a great and powerful Iran, and now you must accept the consequences.”
Iranian state media has given few details of the response sent through a Pakistani mediator, beyond saying that “according to the proposed framework, negotiations at this stage will focus on the issue of ending the war in the region.
