‘Trump’s Important Person’: Iranian People Demand Retaliation
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TEHERAN — The Speaker of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has refuted accusations from Israeli media labelling him as the ‘important person’ version of US President Donald Trump in negotiations to end the war. Ghalibaf emphasised that the entire Iranian society, including himself, remains steadfast in their commitment to retaliate against Zionist-US aggression.
“The entire Iranian people desire a commensurate punishment that causes very serious regret from the aggressors Israel and the United States,” said Ghalibaf, as quoted from the Mehr News Telegram channel on Tuesday (24/3/2026).
Ghalibaf’s statement responds to speculation and divisive efforts against Iran’s leadership stemming from Israeli reports claiming he is a representative from Tehran discussing with Trump to accept a war cessation.
Mehr News stated that Ghalibaf, like all leaders and officials, adheres to the stance shared by the entire Iranian people to ignore all proposals for dialogue or war cessation talks. Ghalibaf described the Israeli reports naming him as Tehran’s ‘important person’ communicating with Washington to negotiate Trump’s threats as nonsense.
“Reports of negotiations with Washington are fake news from Israel,” he said. Ghalibaf also believes that Donald Trump’s statements withdrawing major US military threats against Iran’s power generation facilities are merely an attempt to calm market turmoil in crisis due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“Such fake news aims to manipulate financial and oil markets to help the United States and the Israeli regime escape difficult pressures,” Ghalibaf stated.
Previously, the Israeli media Ynetnews leaked with whom US President Donald Trump was in contact for discussions with parties in Tehran, leading to the US postponing attacks on Iran’s power generation and energy facilities. Ynetnews claimed that Washington was communicating with an important person in Tehran, namely Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.
“US-Iran talks are being held with Parliament Speaker Qalibaf,” stated Ynetnews Breaking News, also quoted by the Turkish news agency Anadolu Agency on Monday (23/3/2026). According to the Ynetnews report, the discussions were not only about Trump’s threats to bombard Iran’s power plants related to the limited blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. However, the report indicated that the talks also addressed the US-proposed plan to end the war.
“Amid US President Donald Trump’s statements that he is talking with Iran about ending the war. Israel assesses that in the US, those talks are being held with Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf,” wrote Ynetnews.
But according to Ynetnews, the talks were conducted indirectly. “And it is not clearly known whether America truly has direct contact with Qalibaf,” the report stated.