Senior Iranian official: Despite talks, Iran must be prepared to ‘fight courageously’

By AP 14 October 2026, 11:54 pm

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Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf gives a press conference at an event marking 40 days since the burial of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at Imam Hassan al-Mujtaba Mosque in Iraq’s central holy shrine city of Karbala on August 20, 2026. (Karar Jabbar/AFP)

Iran must be prepared for war even as it negotiates with the US, says the country’s parliament speaker.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says in a televised speech that his country’s main concern is preventing the United States from attacking again. But he adds that a signed agreement with Washington is no guarantee.

“They break their promises,” says Ghalibaf. As a result, Iran must be prepared to fight “against a bullying enemy,” and “we must truly fight courageously on the battlefield.”

“That is when we will have achieved sustainable deterrence,” he says. “America must be punished. America must change its behavior. It must understand that it has to come to terms with the Iranian people.”