Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf said in a televised speech on Wednesday that the US must be "punished" in order for it to accept Iran's demands to end the war.
Ghalibaf made the comments in the context of the latest response Iran received from the US in indirect negotiations, which Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, has called "inadequate" because Washington didn’t agree to all of Tehran's conditions.
"The United States must be punished, change its behavior, and be made to understand unequivocally that it must accept the legitimate demands of the Iranian nation," Ghalibaf said, according to Iran’s PressTV.
Iran is essentially asking the US to fulfill its obligations under the Memorandum of Understanding that the two nations signed back in June, which would require the US to end its blockade of Iran, provide some sanctions relief, release frozen Iranian funds, and ensure an end to Israel’s war in Lebanon.
Ghalibaf, who was deeply involved in the MoU negotiations, said he ensured the MoU included two parts because he didn’t trust the US.
The parliament speaker also said that Iran must be prepared for both negotiations and fighting with the aim of establishing deterrence to prevent future attacks. "On the battlefield, before God, we must believe that we should fight courageously against our coercive enemy, while also engaging in negotiations to establish lasting deterrence," he said.
He invoked the Iran-Iraq War, which lasted from 1980 to 1988, suggesting Tehran is preparing for the possibility of a very prolonged conflict with the US. During the Iran-Iraq War, the US backed Saddam Hussein by providing intelligence and other types of support while being aware that he was using chemical weapons against Iran.
Ghalibaf fought for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) throughout the war and rose through the ranks to become a senior combat commander. In his remarks on Wednesday, Ghalibaf pointed to the conflict as an example of Iran establishing deterrence.
"In the eight years of sacred defense, we fought against Saddam’s Baathist regime. Of course, we paid a price, we suffered hardships, but in the end, for several decades, no one dared or had the desire to attack our beloved country, Iran," he said.