“Has the level of your inner struggle reached the stage of you negotiating with yourself?”
WASHINGTON — Iran’s military told the United States on Wednesday that it is negotiating with itself, one day after President Donald Trump told reporters that Tehran “wants to make a deal so badly, you have no idea how badly they want to make a deal.”
Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the unified command of Iran’s armed forces, delivered the assessment in a prerecorded video aired on state television. “Has the level of your inner struggle reached the stage of you negotiating with yourself?” he asked.
He then clarified Iran’s position on future diplomacy with Washington. “Someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you,” Zolfaghari said. “Not now. Not ever.”
White House Names Four Iran Negotiations Participants
The response came after President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday that the United States is “in negotiations right now” and that multiple senior officials are involved, naming Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and senior advisor Jared Kushner as participants.
“We have a number of people doing it,” the president said. He did not specify who they are negotiating with.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, had already dismissed reports of direct talks as “fake news” on Monday. Iran’s foreign ministry acknowledged only that “friendly countries” had relayed a “U.S. request for negotiations,” according to AFP.
15-Point Plan Delivered Via Pakistan
The diplomatic exchange centers on a 15-point plan drafted by Washington and delivered to Tehran through Pakistani intermediaries. The plan reportedly calls for Iran to dismantle its nuclear capabilities, hand over its enriched uranium stockpile, and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump told reporters Iran had already agreed to the terms. “They’ve agreed they will never have a nuclear weapon. They’ve agreed to that,” the president said Tuesday. Iran has not confirmed agreeing to anything.
Israeli officials told Axios they are “highly skeptical” that Iran has offered the concessions the White House has described. One U.S. source involved in the Iran negotiations told the outlet it was “too early to say” whether Witkoff and Kushner had established “a real, viable channel.”
Military Operations Continue on Both Sides
While the president described the Iran negotiations as promising, the Pentagon is preparing to deploy thousands of soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East, adding to the 50,000 U.S. troops already in the region. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that “Operation Epic Fury continues unabated.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced new waves of strikes against locations in Israel and U.S. bases in Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain on Wednesday. Israel said it carried out extensive strikes on Iranian production sites. First responders reported multiple casualties on both sides.
Zolfaghari offered one additional thought for Washington. “The one claiming to be a global superpower would have already gotten out of this mess if it could,” he said. “Don’t dress up your defeat as an agreement.”
A Reuters/Ipsos poll published Tuesday found that 61 percent of Americans disapprove of the attacks on Iran, up from 59 percent the previous week.
Developing.
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