Iran parliament speaker says Vance sought talks amid June war

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Friday that by the sixth day of a 12-day conflict with Israel, US vice president JD Vance was seeking talks to end the war.

“Despite the damage we got on the first day, the situation reached a point where by the sixth day, the US Vice President was seeking negotiations to stop the war,” Ghalibaf told a Tehran even for the Basij, Iran's domestic militia.

“The enemy entered with military action, and we admonished and punished it with military power,” he added. “The enemy acted with full calculations to stop the revolution and disintegrate Iran.”

Vance's office did not immediately respond to an Iran International request for comment.

“Iran targeted the US command headquarters in the region with 14 missiles in less than 24 hours. Anti-missile systems failed to intercept them, and this response halted further attacks,” Ghalibaf added.

Washington engaged in talks with Tehran over its disputed nuclear program earlier this year after giving its Mideast arch-enemy a 60-day ultimatum.

After it expired on June 13, Israel launched a surprise military campaign killing senior nuclear scientists along with hundreds of military personnel and civilians. Iranian counterattacks killed 32 Israeli civilians and an off-duty soldier.

Joining the conflict on the tenth day, the United States attacked three Iranian nuclear sites. The next day Iran responded with missile attacks on a US airbase in Qatar before US President Donald Trump enforced a ceasefire on the twelfth day.

The impasse over Iran's disputed program festers despite Trump's assertion that the US attacks had "obliterated" it.

Iran said on Wednesday that no talks were underway with the United States, rejecting President Donald Trump’s assertion a day earlier that the two sides were in dialogue.

Trump had said the previous day that the United States was talking with Iran and that he believed Tehran wanted a deal “very badly.”