Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Wednesday that regional countries alone should determine the Middle East’s political and security order, rejecting external involvement and calling for expanded intra-regional cooperation.
"No one's security should depend on the insecurity of others," Ghalibaf said at a meeting of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, as Iran and the United States seek to conclude a lasting peace agreement. His comments were broadcast on state television.
"The resistance of the Iranian people showed that the era of imposing one's will on independent nations has ended," he added, emphasizing the shift in regional conditions since the start of the war.
Ghalibaf said the Baku meeting would offer an opportunity to explain developments after the recent conflict, according to Iran International.
"The Ramadan War was not simply a military confrontation; rather, it was an organized effort to change the strategic balance of the region and impose its will on a free nation," he said, according to IRGC-linked Tasnim News.
Iran persevered, peace a result of 'authority, respect,' not 'submission'
"The planners of this aggression thought that they could force the Iranian nation to retreat and rewrite the regional equations in their favor through military pressure, siege, psychological operations, and terrorist acts, but what happened was in complete contradiction to the calculations of the war planners... And you saw how the world admired this perseverance and victory."
According to Tasnim, Qalibaf emphasized that "lasting peace is not the product of submission, pressure, and humiliation, but rather the result of authority, dignity, and respect," before going on to call the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding a declaration of defeat by the United States.
This is in contrast to US President Donald Trump's recent insistence that the US-Iran MoU qualified as an "unconditional surrender" for Iran.
“It really probably is unconditional surrender. I think so,” Trump said when asked about the MoU.
Trump emphasized the damage the US had done to Iran’s military forces and senior officials, including Iran’s former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, claiming that he had achieved regime change through killing the previous government officials.
Despite this, Iranian officials consider the MoU to be a major victory for Tehran.
Ghalibaf concluded his speech by emphasizing the need for bilateral cooperation between heads of parliaments and delegations, particularly with Azerbaijan, which hosted the parliamentary union.