
Tehran Urges Washington to Stop ‘Role-Sharing' with Israel
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has called on US President Donald Trump to 'change his approach' and stop 'coordinating roles' with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he hopes to reach a new nuclear deal with Tehran.
In a speech opening the Iranian parliament's weekly session, Ghalibaf criticized a recent US proposal relayed via Oman - a key mediator in the indirect talks between Tehran and Washington - describing it as lacking substance and contradictory in its intent. While Iran has not yet issued an official response to the proposal, Ghalibaf made it clear that Tehran is dissatisfied.
'The American proposal doesn't even mention lifting sanctions,' Ghalibaf said. 'It clearly shows the contradictory behavior of the United States in the indirect negotiations.'
He added: 'The delusional American president must realize that if he truly wants an agreement, he must change his approach, stop dividing roles with the Zionist regime, and abandon Netanyahu's failed talking points.'
Ghalibaf reaffirmed Iran's commitment to the Strategic Action Law to Lift Sanctions, which was passed by the Iranian parliament at the end of Trump's first term in office, shortly after Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Under that law, Iran resumed uranium enrichment at 20% in January 2021 and activated advanced centrifuges at its Natanz nuclear facility. These steps came just weeks into Biden's presidency, as he unsuccessfully sought a return to the 2015 nuclear agreement.
By February 2021, Tehran had suspended the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, significantly reducing its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Then, in April of the same year, Iran raised its uranium enrichment level to 60% at Natanz and later resumed high-level enrichment at its deeply buried Fordow facility.
'We reaffirm, as clearly stated in the Strategic Action Law, that Iran is ready - in exchange for the lifting of sanctions and economic benefits while maintaining enrichment on its own soil - to take necessary steps to build trust and prove the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities,' Ghalibaf said.
He stressed the need for Iran to rely on domestic capacities and improve the living and economic conditions of its people, saying this would pressure the 'arrogant American government' to lift sanctions as part of a mutually beneficial agreement.
'We have said it many times and repeat it again today: Solving the people's economic and livelihood problems through internal capabilities will force the US to accept a fair deal,' Ghalibaf concluded.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Arab News
39 minutes ago
- Arab News
Israel to expel French nationals on Gaza aid boat by end of week
JERUSALEM: Israel is to expel by the end of the week four French nationals held after security forces intercepted their Gaza-bound aid boat, France's foreign minister said Wednesday, as an Israeli NGO said one of the French campaigners was briefly put in solitary confinement. The announcement came as France's prime minister accused activists aboard the boat — who hoped to raise awareness about the humanitarian situation in war-torn Gaza — of capitalizing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for political attention. The four, who include Rima Hassan, a member of European Parliament from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party who is of Palestinian descent, will be deported on Thursday and Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X. They were among 12 people on board the Madleen sailboat which was carrying food and supplies for Gaza before it was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off the besieged Palestinian territory on Monday. Four, including two French citizens and Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, agreed to be deported immediately. The remaining eight were taken into custody after they refused to leave Israel voluntarily, according to Adalah, an Israeli rights NGO representing most of the activists. All 12 of them have been banned from Israel for 100 years. Adalah said on Wednesday that Israeli authorities had placed French MEP Hassan and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila in solitary confinement, with Hassan later removed. 'Israeli authorities transferred two of the volunteers — the Brazilian volunteer Thiago Avila and the French-Palestinian European Parliament member Rima Hassan — to separate prison facilities, away from the others, and placed them in solitary confinement,' Adalah said in a statement. The NGO later said that Hassan had been moved back to Givon prison in Ramla, near Tel Aviv, while Avila remained in isolation. When asked for comment, Israel's prison authority referred AFP to the foreign ministry, which said it was checking the reports. Adalah said Hassan was put in isolation after writing 'Free Palestine' on a prison wall. The NGO said Brazilian activist Avila was placed in isolation 'due to his ongoing hunger and thirst strike, which he began two days ago.' 'He has also been treated aggressively by prison authorities, although this has not escalated to physical assault,' it added. The leader of Hassan's LFI party in parliament, Mathilde Panot, said France's prime minister Francois Bayrou had failed to condemn Israel's actions. The party's boss, Jean-Luc Melenchon, accused Bayrou of 'abandoning the French prisoners,' and called on President Emmanuel Macron to step in. 'These activists obtained the effect they wanted, but it's a form of instrumentalization to which we should not lend ourselves,' Bayrou responded in the National Assembly. It's 'through diplomatic action, and efforts to bring together several states to pressure the Israeli government, that we can obtain the only possible solution' to the conflict, he added. Foreign Minister Barrot also rejected Panot's criticism, saying 'the admirable mobilization' of French officials had made a rapid resolution of the situation possible 'despite the harassment and defamation that they have been subjected to.' France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting a UN meeting later this month in New York on steps toward recognizing a Palestinian state and reaching a so-called two-state solution to the conflict. Israel is facing mounting pressure to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, whose entire population the United Nations has warned is at risk of famine. Israel's defense minister Israel Katz on Wednesday called on Egypt to block a hundreds-strong pro-Palestinian activist convoy from reaching Gaza, as the group arrived in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023 attacked Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the retaliatory Israeli military offensive has killed at least 55,104 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable. Out of 251 taken hostage during the Hamas attack, 54 are still held in Gaza including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.


Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Gaza death toll tops 55,000 as calls grow for ceasefire and accountability
In this episode of Global News Today, presented by Tom Burges Watson, we bring you the latest from around the world – with a special focus on the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. As the death toll surpasses 55,000 since October 2023, we examine the scale of devastation, the international response, and the mounting calls for accountability and an end to conflict to prevent further loss of life. We analyze the remarks of US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, suggesting that Muslim-majority countries could provide land for a future Palestinian state. The comments have sparked intense global debate – we unpack the implications and international fallout. Tom is joined for reaction and analysis with special guest Andrew Gilmour, a former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights who shares his expert insight on the worsening humanitarian crisis. We also speak to Salam Fayyad, former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. Salam Fayyad – Former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority Ambassador Hesham Youssef – Former career diplomat with the Egyptian foreign ministry


Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
US reduces the presence of people not deemed essential to work in the Middle East as tensions rise
WASHINGTON: The United States is drawing down the presence of people who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East due to the potential for regional unrest, the State Department and military said State Department said it has ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the US Embassy in Baghdad based on its latest review and a commitment 'to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad.' The embassy had already been on limited staffing, and the order will not affect a large number of department, however, is also authorizing the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait. That gives them an option on whether to leave those Secretary Pete Hegseth also 'has authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations' across the region, US Central Command said in a statement. The command 'is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East.'White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly confirmed the moves.'The State Department regularly reviews American personnel abroad, and this decision was made as a result of a recent review,' Kelly in the region have been rising in recent days as talks between the US and Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program appear to have hit an impasse. The talks seek to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions that the US has imposed on the Islamic Republic. Iran insists its nuclear program is next round of talks — the sixth — had been tentatively scheduled for this weekend in Oman, according to two US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic matters. However, those officials said Wednesday that it looked increasingly unlikely that the talks would Donald Trump, who has previously threatened to use military force against Iran if negotiations failed, gave a less-than-optimistic view about reaching a deal with Iran, telling the New York Post's 'Pod Force One' podcast that he was 'getting more and more less confident about' a deal.'They seem to be delaying, and I think that's a shame. I'm less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them,' he said in the interview, which was recorded on mission to the UN posted on social media that 'threats of overwhelming force won't change the facts.''Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon, and US militarism only fuels instability,' the Iranian mission Defense Minister Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh separately told journalists Wednesday that he hoped talks with the US would yield results, though Tehran stood ready to respond.'If conflict is imposed on us, the opponent's casualties will certainly be more than ours, and in that case, America must leave the region, because all its bases are within our reach,' he said. 'We have access to them, and we will target all of them in the host countries without hesitation.'Meanwhile, the Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency was potentially set to vote on a measure to censure Iran. That could set in motion an effort to snap back United Nations sanctions on Iran via a measure in Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that's still active until October. Trump withdrew from that deal in his first Wednesday, a statement from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, a Mideast-based effort overseen by the British navy, issued a warning to ships in the region that it 'has been made aware of increased tensions within the region which could lead to an escalation of military activity having a direct impact on mariners.'It urged caution in the Arabian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz. It did not name Iran, though those waterways have seen Iranian ship seizures and attacks in the past.