Ghalibaf Says Iran Will Not Surrender As US-Iran Confrontation Escalates

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran would not end renewed conflict by surrendering, as Iranian media denied reports that the country would resume negotiations with the United States next week.

“Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan has urged “all parties” in the escalating United States-Iran conflict to exercise restraint after a fragile ceasefire that had held for nearly three weeks collapsed into a new wave of strikes and counterstrikes”

Al Jazeera

Ghalibaf declared, “Ending the war is a priority for the countries of the world, but everyone must know that this confrontation will never end with Iran's surrender,” during a meeting with the speaker of Indonesia's People's Consultative Assembly.

Al Jazeera

The Türkiye Today report said Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency denied claims that preparations had been completed for negotiations in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, or that technical talks would continue next week.

The same report said U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated that the ceasefire between the two countries was “over,” after Washington accused Iran of attacking commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz and launched retaliatory strikes.

It added that Tehran denied those allegations and responded by firing drones and missiles at U.S. bases across Gulf countries, raising fears the confrontation could escalate further.

Pakistan, Qatar and other regional mediators raced to de-escalate tensions between the United States and Iran and revive negotiations on a nuclear deal after new airstrikes and an exchange of fire threatened an interim deal.

Axios quoted a regional source involved in the mediation as saying, “There are extensive diplomatic efforts to first agree with both sides on de-escalation and then set a date for another round of negotiations between the technical teams,” as sirens sounded at least three times in Bahrain and missiles targeted Kuwait and Qatar.

Arab News

The Arab News report said an Iranian official accused the U.S. of launching an airstrike later Thursday targeting the area around Iran’s sole nuclear power plant, while Iran’s Health Ministry said the two days of American airstrikes killed at least 14 people and wounded another 78.

It also reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi held a telephone conversation on Thursday with Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and said Washington was not adhering to the Pakistan-brokered interim peace framework.

IRNA quoted Araghchi telling Munir, “Statements by US officials indicating they are not adhering to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding are a clear sign of a breach of the agreement,” as Pakistan’s military released no readout of the call.

As the renewed fighting unfolded, Pakistan urged “all parties” in the escalating United States-Iran conflict to exercise restraint after a fragile ceasefire that had held for nearly three weeks collapsed into new strikes and counterstrikes.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, “A renewed conflict is in no one’s interest,” and urged both sides to honour commitments under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) brokered by Pakistan in April.

Al Jazeera reported that the renewed escalation came hours after the U.S. carried out a second consecutive night of attacks on Iran, targeting about 90 sites, and that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded with drone and missile attacks on U.S. military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

The report said Washington reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil exports by revoking a waiver granted under the MoU, while Trump declared the ceasefire “over” at the NATO summit in Ankara and threatened to reinstate a U.S. naval blockade and target Kharg Island.

Jauhar Saleem, a former Pakistani diplomat and president of the Islamabad-based Institute of Regional Studies, told Al Jazeera, “The process is really stressed right now, very fragile,” warning that both sides needed to be more flexible to avoid jeopardising the entire process.