President Donald Trump has confirmed that the United States has been negotiating with Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, describing him as the regime figure Washington has engaged with in recent weeks.
Trump told the New York Post he will know “in about a week” whether Ghalibaf is someone the U.S. can truly work with. U.S. officials had previously declined to identify him publicly, even as he emerged as the preferred conduit despite his hardline background and ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Ghalibaf, 64, is a longtime IRGC veteran who rose through the ranks during the Iran-Iraq War and later commanded the IRGC air force. He served as national police chief, oversaw suppression of protests, and spent more than a decade as mayor of Tehran before becoming parliament speaker in 2020.
Analysts describe him as a loyal “yes man” with no independent authority.
“Ghalibaf doesn’t have an independent line. His strength is that he is a ‘yes man,’” said Beni Sabti, an Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies, Fox News reported. “If he is told to shake hands with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, he will do it. If he is told to escalate, he will. It is not about moderation, it is about who gives the orders.”
Ghalibaf has publicly rejected ceasefire proposals and warned of retaliation if Iranian infrastructure is attacked.
In remarks aired on Iranian television on January 12, 2026, he told U.S. forces: “Come, so you can see what catastrophe befalls American bases, ships and forces,” adding that American troops would be “burned by the fire of Iran’s defenders.”
He has also said that “the blood of American soldiers is the personal responsibility of Trump” and vowed that Iran would “settle accounts with the Americans and Israelis.”
His name has been linked to corruption allegations involving the misuse of oil revenues and sanctions evasion networks that allegedly included family members.
Danny Citrinowicz, a Middle East national security expert, said Ghalibaf “is considered relatively moderate in the current Iranian context, but he’s not the one calling the shots,” Fox reported.
“He’s not deciding anything,” Citrinowicz added. “Even if he wants to do something, he has to get approval from the IRGC and the supreme leadership.”
Negotiations would be difficult, Citrinowicz said, because the Iranian system is “more radicalized and decentralized.”
“It’s not one person. It’s multiple actors you need to coordinate with, which makes it much harder to negotiate,” he said.
