A group of lawmakers aligned with hardline politician Saeed Jalili declined to sign a parliamentary statement backing Iran’s negotiating team led by Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, despite broad support from 261 other MPs.
The statement expressed confidence in the negotiating delegation. However, several prominent hardline figures—including Mahmoud Nabavian, Mohammad Taghi Naqadali, Morteza Aghatehrani, Amirhossein Sabeti, Hamid Rasaei, Ruhollah Izadkhah and Meysam Zohourian—did not sign the statement.
Nabavian was one of the members of the Iranian delegation led by Ghalibaf who attended the first round of Islamabad talks with the United States.
The statement warned that “the enemy” is seeking to create divisions between the state, society and diplomatic institutions during what it described as a new phase of conflict.
It also urged political and social actors to avoid speculation based on “rumors and incomplete information,” cautioning against contributing to what it called the enemy’s “cognitive warfare.”
Lawmakers who signed the statement expressed full support for the negotiating team, particularly Ghalibaf, saying they trust the delegation as it enters what they described as a “new battlefield” against adversaries.
