The Speaker of Iran's Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, posted today (Beijing time May 12): "There is no alternative but to accept the rights proposed by the Iranian people in the 14-point proposal. Any other approach will yield no results and will only fail repeatedly. The longer they delay, the higher the cost American taxpayers will ultimately have to pay."

[Clever] Commentary: The U.S.-Iran negotiations are progressing with great difficulty. The room for compromise on both sides has been locked by domestic hardliners and core national interests. Ghalibaf’s statement clearly establishes the “14-point proposal” as an unshakable parliamentary will, firmly passing the ball back to Washington: you may negotiate a ceasefire, but the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region, lifting of blockades, cancellation of sanctions, and war reparations are non-negotiable. This “all-or-nothing” bottom-line thinking may appear inflexible, yet it actually conceals a calculated strategy of trading time for space. Iran holds the lifeline of the Strait of Hormuz and well understands that energy instability causes greater anxiety among American taxpayers than in Tehran. While Iran's rhetoric may sound uncompromising, if the U.S. makes even minor substantive concessions, Iran might still be willing to trade on implementation pace—after all, neither side can afford an endless deadlock.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1864934181795912/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.