The Trump administration is reportedly eyeing the speaker of Iran‘s parliament as a possible US-backed leader of the nation despite his repeated threats against America.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, 64, has been in his high-level role since 2020.
Following the death of Ali Larijani, the head of the Supreme National Security Council, he reportedly took on the responsibility of making strategic decisions, making him a highly influential player in Iran.
But he has taken an aggressive tone against the US. On Monday, following Donald Trump‘s claim that the US had opened negotiations with Iran, Ghalibaf flatly denied the American leader’s statement.
He wrote: ‘Our people demand the complete and humiliating punishment of the aggressors. All officials stand firmly behind their Leader and people until this goal is achieved.
‘No negotiations with America have taken place. Fake news is intended to manipulate financial and oil and to escape the quagmire in which America and Israel are trapped.’
Despite this, Politico reported that the current US administration is looking to him, among others, as a possible future leader of Iran.
One administration official told the outlet: ‘He’s a hot option. He’s one of the highest…But we got to test them, and we can’t rush into it.’
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, 64, (pictured, centre) has been in his high-level role since 2020
On Monday, Donald Trump (pictured) claimed that the US had opened negotiations with Iran
Ghalibaf is reportedly the main go-between for the US and Iran. On Monday, Trump hailed ‘very good’ talks with an unidentified Iranian official – something that the nation denied.
Another pointed to the US’s decision to rapidly push Venezuela’s now-leader Delcy Rodríguez into power, following the deposing of Nicolas Maduro earlier this year, as a framework for Iran.
They said: ‘It’s all about installing someone like a Delcy Rodríguez in Venezuela that we say, ‘We’re going to keep you there. We’re going to not take you out. You’re going to work with us. You’re going to give us a good deal, a first deal on the oil’.’
But analysts are sceptical that Ghalibaf, a former mayor of Tehran, would be as willing to roll over as Venezuela’s leader.
Ali Vaez, a senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Politico: ‘Ghalibaf is a quintessential insider: ambitious and pragmatic, yet fundamentally committed to the preservation of Iran’s Islamist order.
‘That makes him an unlikely candidate to offer Washington any meaningful concessions. And even if he were inclined to test the boundaries, Iran’s military establishment and the broader security elite would almost certainly constrain him.’
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said messages were received from ‘some friendly countries indicating a US request for negotiations aimed at ending the war’, but denied any such talks had taken place, Iran’s official IRNA agency reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had spoken to Trump and acknowledged the US thought a deal was possible, but vowed to continue striking Iran and Lebanon to protect Israel.
Missiles fired from Iran toward Israel are seen in the skies over Hebron, West Bank on March 24, 2026
Missiles fired from Iran toward Israel are seen streaking across the night sky over Ramallah, West Bank on March 24, 2026
‘Trump believes there is a chance to leverage the tremendous achievements of the IDF and the US military in order to realize the war’s objectives in an agreement – an agreement that will safeguard our vital interests,’ he said.
‘At the same time, we continue to strike both in Iran and in Lebanon.’
Although Oman mediated indirect US-Iran talks prior to the US and Israel launching the war, Egypt, Qatar and Pakistan have been suggested as alternative go-betweens.
On a day of whiplash developments, Iran’s neighbours breathed a sigh of relief after Trump stepped back from his threat to target Iranian power infrastructure.
Tehran had vowed to deploy naval mines and target power and water infrastructure across the region in retaliation, threatening to escalate an energy crisis of already historic proportions.
‘Trump blinked first – out of a clear understanding that striking Iran’s energy infrastructure would trigger a direct and significant retaliation,’ Danny Citrinowicz, a security analyst and former Israeli intelligence Iran expert, wrote on X.
Trump said his administration was holding talks with an unidentified ‘top person,’ but not the country’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who is believed to be injured.
‘We’ve wiped out the leadership phase one, phase two, and largely phase three. But we’re dealing with the man who I believe is the most respected and the leader,’ Trump said.
He described the individual as ‘very reasonable,’ while warning if talks failed in the next five days, ‘we’ll just keep bombing our little hearts out.’
Thousands of US Marines are headed to the Middle East, reinforcing America’s presence amid weekend speculation Trump was mulling ground operations either to seize Iranian oil assets or to forcibly reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Since the war erupted, Tehran has retaliated against US-Israeli attacks by throttling traffic through the Strait, a conduit for one-fifth of global crude, and by hitting Gulf energy sites and US embassies as well as targets in Israel.
International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol warned if the war is protracted, daily oil losses would pave the way for a crisis worse than the combined impact of both 1970s oil shocks and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
‘The global economy is facing a major, major threat today, and I very much hope that this issue will be resolved as soon as possible,’ he said in Australia.
Oil prices have been driven above $100 a barrel by the conflict, but they tumbled sharply after Trump’s announcements, while European stocks rebounded.
International benchmark Brent crude plunged around 12 per cent to $98.95 per barrel.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told a parliamentary committee that he welcomed ‘the talks reported between the US and Iran’ – adding London was ‘aware’ of discussions.
Trump said there were already ‘major points of agreement’ with the Iranian negotiators.
Smoke rises from Beirut’s southern suburbs following an Israeli strike, after an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 24, 2026
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in Beirut’s southern suburbs on March 24, 2026
US conditions included Iran abandoning any nuclear ambitions and giving up its enriched uranium stockpiles, he said.
Since the war began on February 28, Trump has reiterated his goal of regime change and raised installing a pro-Western figure from inside Iran’s governing system.
Trump has offered shifting timelines and objectives for the war, saying Friday he was considering ‘winding down’ the operation – only to later threaten Iran’s power plants, of which it has more than 90.
Netanyahu has spoken of a long-term campaign against Iran’s government, a sponsor of Hamas, which launched the October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the Gaza war.
In Lebanon, Israel has expanded its ground campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah, warning of ‘weeks of fighting.’
Israel’s attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than a million, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
Israel’s army said Monday it captured two Hezbollah members in south Lebanon after they surrendered.
The war has killed at least 3,230 Iranians, including 1,406 civilians, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
