Iranian leaders are displaying ever more hardline views amid the huge toll inflicted on the regime by Israeli and US strikes.
Ali Nikzad, parliamentary deputy of former IRGC general Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who leading the ceasefire talks with the US, this week vowed revenge over the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying: “The blood of the martyrs will never be in vain.”
Hossein Shariatmadari, representative of the Supreme Leader’s office, addressed the US in an editorial in the main state newspaper saying: “Why do you not remove Trump and physically eliminate him to cleanse this stain from yourselves?”
It comes as a regime insider told the JC that the dictatorship’s extremist military wing, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was now largely in control of the country.
A source close to a former Iranian president said that Ghalibaf was “influential but not all powerful. Figures such as Ahmad Vahidi, the new IRGC’s commander in chief and other senior IRGC commanders, along with the new Supreme Leader, must approve major decisions.”
Another source who is close to Ghalibaf, who still has the title of general despite having no official IRGC role, said he had to “preserve his standing inside the IRGC. Any sign of weakness would be seen as betrayal.”
Senior IRGC figures and representatives have issued defiant statements about their intention to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for parliament’s National Security Commission and a close ally of the IRGC, said: “Not even a single drop of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz without Iran’s approval,” he said, claiming Tehran holds effective control over one of the world’s most vital energy corridors.
The IRGC’s Khatam al Anbiya Headquarters, which coordinates Iran’s military operations, warned it could disrupt trade across key waterways including the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea if pressure on Iranian ports continues.
Nikzad, Ghalibaf’s deputy in parliament, ruled out any retreat on uranium enrichment and vowed retaliation for the killing of senior regime figures, saying: “Revenge will be taken at a time and place of our choosing, and the enemy will face a heavy cost.”
Nikzad also rejected Western demands to abandon Iran’s network of regional proxies, pledging continued support for allied forces in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
Alireza Arafi, a hardline cleric and member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for selecting the Supreme Leader, said: “The Islamic Republic has crossed many of the lines it once considered untouchable and the establishment has now defined a new logic of defence rooted in both rational and religious principles.”
Arafi, who also heads the country’s religious seminaries, is widely regarded as influential among senior figures in the IRGC.
His remarks reflect a broader shift in Tehran from guarded diplomacy to open defiance.
One day after Donald Trump claimed a second round of negotiations was imminent, the regime adopted a tone of triumph, insisting it has already outmanoeuvred Washington in earlier talks.
“Any attempt to impose one’s will or force the country into submission is doomed to fail,” said President Masoud Pezeshkian, responding to demands from Trump and Vice President JD Vance to dismantle Iran’s nuclear programme and guarantee free passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
Sources close to Ghalibaf described a calculated strategy behind the regime’s posture. One said Ghalibaf was attempting to project strength at home and abroad while leaving space for a deal that could appeal to Trump’s focus on economic gain. “He believes Trump is under pressure to secure a deal before the World Cup and ahead of the midterm elections,” the source told the JC.
Another source, close to a former Iranian president, said the leadership believed Trump entered the conflict without a clear plan, expecting early strikes to topple the regime. “That did not happen,” the source said. “Now he is looking for a deal he can present as a victory.”
The same source cautioned against Western assumptions about Ghalibaf’s authority. “He has to satisfy the core supporters of the system and justify any agreement with the same government that killed our leader. Still, he believes there is room to manoeuvre and that he can corner the US president.”
Despite talk of renewed negotiations, the gap between the two sides appears wide. The emerging picture is of a more militarised and hardline Islamic Republic, less willing to compromise and more prepared to escalate.
Largely absent from this confrontation are the Iranian people themselves. Those who took to the streets in protest, many of whom were killed, remain the forgotten element in the calculations of both Tehran and Washington.
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