Qalibaf: Trump’s Threats Counts for Nothing, Iran Ready to Respond
Iran’s top negotiator in talks with the United States has dismissed US President Donald Trump’s latest worthless threats, saying the armed forces are ready to respond “in another way” to any American aggression.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who is leading Iran’s delegation at the Switzerland talks, took to his X account to deliver a fierce rebuke of Trump’s recent rhetoric.
“Don’t they think that if their threats had any effect, they wouldn’t have reached today’s state of desperation?” he said.
He added that Iran counts American threats for nothing.
He cautioned American officials to watch what they are saying as Iranian armed forces are “ready to respond to them in another way.”
“Whatever they say, we are the ones who take action,” Qalibaf emphasized.
Qalibaf was responding to the US president who on Sunday threatened to restart war with Iran, warning Tehran to rein in its allies in Lebanon or face renewed and more powerful US military strikes.
“Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform, referring to US war against the Islamic Republic, which started late February.
According to Fox News, Trump also warned that if Iran keeps the Strait of Hormuz closed, “you won’t have a country.”
“We may take over the Strait, if we have to,” Trump said.
A source told Press TV that the Iranian delegation to Swiss talks raised objections directly with the American side over Trump’s latest threat of further military strikes, and is now weighing its next steps.
“The Iranian delegation has raised its objections to the American side and is currently assessing the conditions to give a proper response to Trump’s verbal threats,” the source said on Sunday.
On Saturday, Iran’s central military command officially declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to all maritime traffic, citing US and Israeli violations of the recently-signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Tehran and Washington.
Iranian negotiating teams leaves Swiss talks in protest
Meanwhile, a source close to the negotiating team told Tasnim news agency that the Iranian negotiating delegation left the talks in Switzerland site in protest over Trump’s threats.
The source said that following Trump’s threat, the negotiations in Switzerland were halted, and their final outcome remains unclear.