Memorandum of understanding a ‘declaration of US defeat,’ says Iran’s chief negotiator

By AFP 24 June 2026, 11:27 am

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Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 11, 2026. (Pakistan Prime Minister Office via AP)

The deal between Iran and the United States to end the war is “America’s declaration of defeat,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the head of the Iranian negotiating team, says.

“The Islamabad understanding was not the result of pressure and coercion, but rather the result of the resistance and authority of the brave Iranian nation,” Ghalibaf says at a conference in Azerbaijan broadcast on Iranian television.

“That is why, the Islamabad memorandum of understanding became a declaration of America’s defeat,” he says, adding that security in the Middle East must be ensured by the countries of the region.