TEHRAN — As diplomacy between Tehran and Washington inches forward through Pakistani and regional mediation, Iran's political and military establishment is projecting a sharply defiant message: Any concessions achieved at the negotiating table are the product of Iranian force, not compromise.

That posture was encapsulated in a striking statement by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has emerged as one of the key political faces of the current negotiations. In an X post on Friday, Ghalibaf declared, "We obtain concessions not through negotiations, but through missiles," and added that diplomacy merely serves to "communicate" those gains to the other side.

He further insisted that Iran has "no trust in guarantees or words," arguing that only actions matter and warning that "the winner of any agreement is the side better prepared for war the day after."

The remarks offer one of the clearest indications yet into how Iran's ruling establishment is reframing diplomacy after months of confrontation with the United States and Israel. Rather than presenting negotiations as a path toward deescalation, Iranian hard-liners increasingly depict them as a tactical extension of deterrence.