Iranian MP says armed forces ‘ready with fingers on the trigger’ during US talks

Iran foreign ministry spokesperson said on Sunday that the US failure to ensure a ceasefire in Lebanon would be a central issue at the meeting with US officials in Burgenstock, Switzerland.

Esmaeil Baghaei also said the one-day meeting was a follow-up to implementation of a memorandum of understanding with the United States and would include a joint afternoon session between Iran, the US, Qatar and Pakistan.

He said other issues would also be discussed, including waivers for the sale of Iranian oil and the release of Iran’s frozen assets.

Talks between a US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance and an Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf are set to begin on Sunday morning in Burgenstock, with mediators also present, the Swiss foreign ministry said.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir were also in Switzerland for the talks.

The IRGC Navy’s deputy commander for political affairs said the Islamic Revolution was entering a phase of “new birth” after what he described as the consolidation of its victories.

“After the consolidation of victories, major reforms should be pursued in the economic and governance spheres,” Mohammad Akbarzadeh said.

He also said Iran was negotiating with the US to secure its rights, not to make concessions, adding that Tehran would not retreat even if the US failed to uphold its commitments.

A military adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned on Sunday against optimism over talks with the United States, saying Washington had turned to negotiations after failing to force Iran into surrender.

“The United States was supposed to use its ‘peace through strength’ strategy to force Iran to surrender,” Mohsen Rezaei said in a post on X. “Now that they have failed, they are insisting on negotiations out of desperation.”

The former IRGC commander added that that “any optimism will be exploited by the enemy.”

Amir Ebrahim Rasouli, political adviser to Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Saturday called for identifying the person behind what he described as the disclosure of confidential state information following recent remarks by lawmaker Seyyed Mahmoud Nabavian.

Rasouli said the focus should not be on the resignation of a state TV manager or on Nabavian himself, but rather on uncovering who provided him with what he called “state secrets.” In a post on X, he urged Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to identify and confront the “hidden force behind Nabavian” and prevent similar incidents in the future.