The influential speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has blamed the United States for the failure of the weekend’s peace talks in Pakistan.
Ghalibaf, who was part of the delegation at the negotiations in Islamabad, said the US representatives had been “unable to gain the trust” of Iranian officials.
“Before the negotiations, I emphasized that we have the necessary good faith and will but, due to the experiences of the two previous wars, we have no trust in the opposing side,” Ghalibaf wrote on social media.
“My colleagues on the Iranian delegation raised forward-looking initiatives, but the opposing side ultimately failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of negotiations.”
The talks in Islamabad ended after 21 hours without a breakthrough on Saturday, leaving a fragile two-week ceasefire in doubt, dw.com reports.
The US delegation, led by Vice President JD Vance, said negotiations collapsed over what they considered to be Iran’s refusal to abandon its nuclear program.
“We need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.
But Ghalibaf insisted that Iran “will not for a moment cease [its] efforts to consolidate the achievements of the forty days of national defense,” adding, “The US has understood Iran’s logic and principles and it’s time for them to decide whether they can earn our trust or not.”
