Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned Washington on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen only on Tehran's terms, as President Donald Trump signalled that the United States would escalate strikes on Iran manifold in response to any further attacks.
In a post on X translated from Persian, Ghalibaf, who has emerged as a key power centre in Iran since the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials earlier this year, said "America still hasn't learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free," adding, "let me put it plainly: if you strike, you'll get hit."
He cautioned Washington against further escalation, saying "Don't flail around pointlessly, or you'll sink even deeper," and insisted the strait "will only open with 'Iranian arrangements,' not American threats."
آمریکا هنوز یاد نگرفته است که زورگویی و بدعهدی دیگر بیهزینه نیست. شفاف بگویم: بزنید، میخورید.
— محمدباقر قالیباف | MB Ghalibaf (@mb_ghalibaf) July 9, 2026
دست و پای بیهوده نزنید که بیشتر فرو خواهید رفت: تنگه هرمز، فقط با «ترتیبات ایرانی» باز میشود نه با تهدیدات آمریکایی.
Mohsen Rezaee, a senior member of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council and a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, struck a similarly defiant note.
"Whenever force fails to lead anywhere, they hastily turn to negotiation and agreement, and no sooner do they reach it than they set out to destroy it," he wrote, arguing that "in the logic of American politics, negotiation is merely a bridge to cross, not a lasting commitment."
He warned that "the response to every new adventure will be unprecedented strikes from Iran."
هرگاه از مسیر زور راه به جایی نمیبرند، شتابان به مذاکره و توافق روی میآورند و به محض رسیدن به آن، در پی نابودیاش برمیآیند. در منطق سیاسی آمریکا، مذاکره تنها پلی برای عبور است، نه تعهدی پایدار!
— محسن رضایی (@ir_rezaee) July 8, 2026
پاسخ هر ماجراجویی تازه، ضرباتی بیسابقه از سوی ایران خواهد بود.
The remarks came as Trump, speaking to reporters, left open the possibility of a return to full-scale war.
Asked whether the two countries were headed back toward all-out conflict, he replied, "I don't know." He said the US had matched Iranian aggression with overwhelming force: "We just hit them very hard. We hit them 20 to 1. Every time they hit us, we are going to hit them 20."
Trump also renewed his claim to have ended multiple global conflicts, saying, "I would say I should have won that award more than anybody that ever received the Nobel Peace Prize because nobody settled wars. I settled eight of them."
The war between the US, Israel and Iran began on February 28, and a memorandum of understanding reached last month had established a 60-day ceasefire and reopened the strait.
That truce collapsed this week after Iran was accused of attacking commercial vessels near Hormuz, prompting fresh American strikes and retaliatory Iranian fire on US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait.
ALSO READ: Explosions In Chabahar, Bushehr As US Launches Fresh Iran Strikes Amid Hormuz Tensions — Videos
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