President Donald Trump listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf rejected Trump’s claim on X.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
President Donald Trump revealed on Monday the answer to the question he raised about whom he was speaking with inside Iran: Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the New York Post reported.
The Post’s national security correspondent Caitlin Doornbos reported that Trump “confirmed to me today that the U.S. is negotiating with Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, saying we’ll ‘find out in about a week’ whether he is someone America can truly work with.”
Earlier in the week, Trump raised speculation about the identity of the person or people he was speaking with in Iran. On Truth Social, he said that “VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS” were underway with Iran while declining to identify the counterpart.
At the time, he told reporters, “A top person. Don’t forget, we wiped out the leadership, phase one, and phase two and largely phase three. But we’re dealing with a man who I believe is the most respected and the leader. It is a little tough. We’ve wiped out everybody.”
He denied it was Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei and wrote, “No, not the supreme leader. Nobody has heard of the second supreme leader, the son. We have not heard from the son,” and raised doubts about whether he is still alive.
Ghalibaf rejected Trump’s claim and wrote on X, “Iranian people demand complete and remorseful punishment of the aggressors. All Iranian officials stand firmly behind their supreme leader and people until this goal is achieved.”
He added, “No negotiations have been held with the U.S., and fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the U.S. and Israel are trapped.”
The Jerusalem Post had earlier reported that Ghalibaf was the figure in question.
Trump later reiterated that a decision on whether progress is possible would come soon, saying, “We’re gonna find out. I’ll let you know that in about a week,” and adding, “You’ll see shortly” when asked about a potential U.S. response to Iranian strikes on energy facilities in Israel and Kuwait.
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