Tehran, Iran – Iranian officials say the United States needs to do more if a deal is to end the war as they urge their supporters to maintain control of the streets.
The US delegation at Saturday’s marathon talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, “ultimately failed to gain the confidence of the Iranian delegation in this round of talks”, said Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led the Iranian team.
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US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the US Navy would immediately begin the process of “intercepting any and all vessels attempting to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz” in Iran’s southern waters. He also said that US forces remain “locked and loaded” and will “eliminate” Iran at the “appropriate time”.
The fact that the Iranian delegation did not accept Washington’s main demands of ending nuclear enrichment on Iranian soil and ending Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz was welcomed by Iranian officials on Sunday as they anticipated defiance.
Judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ezei thanked the delegation that visited Islamabad and said they “defended the rights” of Iranian government supporters, including paramilitaries, in main squares, streets and mosques in Tehran and other cities every night for more than six weeks.
While delegations were attending talks on Saturday night, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s aerospace division was shown on state television telling flag-waving supporters in downtown Tehran not to be worried.
“If the enemy doesn’t understand, we will make them understand,” the man, wearing military fatigues and a black mask to conceal his identity, said to cheers from the crowd, some of whom demanded more missile and drone strikes from the IRGC.
State television also said that it was Trump, not Tehran, who wanted to “restore its image” through negotiations and that his “excessive demands” were the reason the talks failed.
The Foreign Ministry said it did not expect to reach any agreement after just one day of talks.
Several lawmakers in the hardline-dominated parliament said they were glad the talks did not yield results because they believed Iran had the upper hand in the war.
Hamidreza Haji-Babaei, deputy speaker of the parliament, said the only thing acceptable to regime supporters in the streets is a UN Security Council resolution that would signal “surrender” to the US and pave the way for the lifting of sanctions against Iran and its leaders.
Amir Hossein Sabeti, a Tehran lawmaker from the hardline Payadari faction, said he was grateful to the negotiating team that they had “not retreated from the red lines” and that “there is no other way but to show resistance on the field against these scoundrels and monsters”.
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It came as some pro-statehood voices said they were disappointed by Wednesday night’s sudden announcement of a two-week ceasefire and direct talks with the US on ending the war.
According to local media, to address internal concerns, the Iranian delegation in Islamabad had more than 85 members, including dozens of representatives of state-affiliated media and analysts close to various factions.
In addition to Ghalibaf, the former IRGC commander who led Iran’s missile program, senior members of the team included Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a hardline diplomat. Ali Bagheri KaniDefense Council chief and former security chief Ali Akbar Ahmadian and liberal central bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati.
Saturday’s talks established that a diplomatic breakthrough is not imminent and that further tensions are likely to escalate, even if there is no immediate return to full-scale fighting.
“What he (Trump) is saying after the talks is just excessive talk. He is saying his wishes out loud,” Ebrahim Azizi, head of Iran’s parliament’s National Security Commission, told state television on Sunday afternoon regarding Trump’s announced naval blockade and new threats.
The IRGC has threatened to respond with full force to any military vessel passing through the Strait of Hormuz. It also rejected the US military’s announcement during the talks that two US warships had passed through the strait in preparation for an operation to clear naval mines blocking the strategic waterway.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian in a phone call on Sunday that he is ready to diplomatically pursue a peace deal in the Middle East.
Pezeshkian, who is primarily tasked with working on domestic matters, has supported the installation and continuation of supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard from outside written statements since Israel and the US initiated the war on February 28. His government announced that schools and universities would be held online using limited local intranets until further notice.
Iran’s economy is struggling with persistent inflation and more jobs will be lost in 2026 as the state continues a near-complete internet shutdown.
