Serdar Dincel
18 August 2026•Update: 18 August 2026
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf has blasted US officials for “squeezing Iran” with the aim of wresting concessions that he says were “never part” of a framework agreement signed earlier between Washington and Tehran.
“Americans think squeezing Iran harder will win concessions that were never part of the agreement,” Qalibaf wrote in a Tuesday social-media post.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth are “way out of their league,” he asserted, adding: “Stop waiting for the clown crew to pull a rabbit out of their hat and clean up the mess you made.”
In mid-June, Tehran and Washington signed a memorandum of understanding – through Pakistani and Qatari mediators – ending hostilities and launching talks aimed at reaching a negotiated settlement.
Talks, however, have since broken down amid ongoing disputes over the memorandum’s terms and navigation through the Hormuz Strait, a critical route for global energy exports.