Lina Altawell
29 January 2026•Update: 30 January 2026
ISTANBUL
President Donald Trump “may be able to ignite a war, but he does not control how it ends,” Iran’s parliament speaker said while stressing that Tehran remains open to negotiations “only if they are real, not imposed by force.”
“We are ready for negotiations,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in an interview with CNN late Wednesday, but added: “We do not believe this is the kind of dialogue the American president is seeking.”
He accused Washington of undermining diplomacy by force, saying the US “bombed the negotiating table two days before the sixth round of talks with Iran.”
He said Iran would not enter talks without tangible benefits, stating, “As long as the economic interests of the Iranian people are not guaranteed, there will be no negotiations,” and went on, “We do not consider dictation to be negotiation.”
Ghalibaf also warned that talks conducted under military pressure would only worsen tensions, saying: “Negotiations in the shadow of war fuel tensions.”
“If Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize, he should distance himself from the warmongers and the advocates of surrender around him,” Ghalibaf continued.
These remarks followed Trump’s latest statement that a “massive armada” was moving toward Iran and his call for Tehran to “come to the table” for negotiations.
Iranian officials responded with warnings of war and retaliation, while reiterating that Tehran remains open to talks only on what it describes as fair and noncoercive terms.
Iran has been rocked by waves of protests since Dec. 28 at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar because of the sharp depreciation of the Iranian rial and worsening economic conditions. Demonstrations later spread to several cities.
Officials have accused the US and Israel of backing "armed rioters" to create a pretext for foreign intervention and warned that any US attack would draw a "swift and comprehensive" response.
