Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has stepped down as Tehran’s lead negotiator with the United States amid internal divisions, Iranian opposition and Israeli media outlets reported over the weekend.
According to Israel’s Channel 12 News, Ghalibaf cited growing interference from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in his decision to resign from his role.
Meanwhile, opposition outlet Iran International quoted unnamed sources as saying Ghalibaf was forced to resign after being reprimanded for seeking to include the nuclear issue in the talks.
The report said Saeed Jalili—a hardline politician who was reportedly denounced by Ghalibaf as “extremist” for his criticism of the talks—was being considered as Tehran’s new top negotiator.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was also seeking to take over the role, sources told Iran International.
According to the outlet, Iran’s delegation was ready to leave for Islamabad last week when a message from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s inner circle ruled out discussing the nuclear program and reprimanded the foreign minister over having raised the issue in previous negotiations.
Araghchi reportedly responded by saying that traveling to Pakistan would serve no purpose, as excluding the nuclear issue would effectively doom any possibility of progress in the peace talks.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said he canceled the trip of the American delegation to Islamabad as the Iranian representatives had already left Pakistan.
Explaining his decision on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership.’”
“Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!” the president added.
