Iran's parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has said Tehran remains ready to fight until the end to safeguard its national security.
He delivered the remarks while warning that Iran has no obligation to honour the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States if it does not benefit from the pact.
"Iran has never welcomed war but must always be prepared to fight and stand firm to protect its interests," Ghalibaf said, according to Al Arabiya English.
He added that "diplomacy and negotiation remain tools Tehran intends to use to secure its national interests", but stressed that "talks at this stage do not amount to compromise."
Rather, he said, "negotiations and war form part of a broader strategy of resistance to protect Iran's interests, and treating the two as mutually exclusive options would be a strategic error", the outlet reported.
Ghalibaf's remarks come amid the collapse of the ceasefire established under the 14-point Islamabad Memorandum, which Iran and the US signed last month to end the war between the two countries.
US President Donald Trump declared the truce "over" following fresh exchanges of fire after Iran allegedly struck commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, prompting the US to launch retaliatory strikes and reimpose a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
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Ghalibaf, who led Iran's negotiating team at the Islamabad talks in April alongside Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, has repeatedly accused Washington of violating the memorandum in recent weeks, including through continued strikes, the reinstatement of oil sanctions, and what he called Iran's adjustments to shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz.
He said on Friday that Tehran remained "distrustful of the Americans" and was prepared for "all-out defence" should the US breach the agreement further.
The comments also follow Trump's warning that the US has plans to "decimate and destroy" Iran should Tehran act on a reported assassination plot against him, a claim based on Israeli intelligence shared with US officials.
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