{"id":22538,"date":"2026-03-24T12:25:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T08:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.hasanagha.org\/?p=22538"},"modified":"2026-03-24T12:25:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T08:55:04","slug":"were-in-the-testing-phase-trump-admin-eyeing-irans-parliament-speaker-as-us-backed-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/news.hasanagha.org\/?p=22538","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We’re in the testing phase\u2019: Trump admin eyeing Iran\u2019s parliament speaker as US-backed leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf waves after voting during the presidential election in Tehran on June 28, 2024. | Atta Kenar\/AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Politico<\/a>: Mohammad \u2060Bagher Ghalibaf is seen by at least some in the White House as a workable partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration is quietly weighing Iran\u2019s parliament speaker as a potential partner \u2014 and even a future leader \u2014 as the president signals a shift from military pressure toward a negotiated endgame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mohammad \u2060Bagher Ghalibaf, the 64-year-old who has repeatedly threatened the U.S. and its allies with retaliation, is seen by at least some in the White House as a workable partner, who could lead Iran and negotiate with the Trump administration in the war\u2019s next phase, according to two administration officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the White House isn\u2019t ready to commit to any one person, hoping to stress test multiple candidates as they look for someone willing to make a deal, said the two people, both granted anonymity to describe internal thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a hot option,\u201d one administration official said, cautioning that no decisions have been made. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the highest\u2026But we got to test them, and we can\u2019t rush into it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administration\u2019s interest in pinpointing a negotiating partner signals a desire to find some way out of the quagmire that Iran has quickly become, jolting world markets, spiking oil prices and renewing concern about inflation. And it hints at an answer to a critical question now that the U.S. and Israel have decimated Tehran\u2019s leadership \u2013 what, and who, comes next?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, \u201cThese are sensitive diplomatic discussions and the United States will not negotiate through the news media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump hinted Monday at outreach to \u201cvery solid\u201d figures inside Iran and said there would be a five day pause on \u201cany and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure\u201d as Tehran and Washington engage in diplomatic negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president\u2019s other big interest is an economic one: oil. According to the first official, Trump doesn\u2019t want to take out Kharg Island, Iran\u2019s major oil hub, because he hopes the next leader will make a deal similar to the one made by Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s vice president, who took over after he was captured<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about installing someone like a Delcy Rodr\u00edguez in Venezuela that we say, \u2018We\u2019re going to keep you there. We\u2019re going to not take you out. You\u2019re going to work with us. You\u2019re going to give us a good deal, a first deal on the oil,\u2019\u201d the administration official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But any belief that the president can select Iran\u2019s next leader the way he did with Rodr\u00edguez in Venezuela after the U.S. captured Maduro struck some White House allies as premature, even naive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt seems like posturing, like he\u2019s trying to speak something into existence,\u201d said one person close to the president\u2019s national security team, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the president\u2019s thinking. \u201cIt\u2019s good if talks are happening through an intermediary and good that they\u2019re starting to think about a way out of this. But Iran has proven they can take a hit and still make things difficult for us. They\u2019re not about to roll over and give Trump their oil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another person in touch with the White House, a Gulf official, suggested that Trump was overstating the progress in talks to create a pretext for walking back his own self-imposed 48-hour deadline, in which he threatened Saturday night to bomb Iran\u2019s power plants if it didn\u2019t reopen the Strait of Hormuz Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s definitely buying time and trying to stabilize markets,\u201d said the Gulf official, who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. \u201cWhat\u2019s harder to know is if he\u2019s serious about finding an off-ramp or if he\u2019s putting unrealistic demands out there so that Iran will say no.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some are also skeptical that Ghalibaf, a former mayor of Tehran, would be as pliant as Rodr\u00edguez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGhalibaf is a quintessential insider: ambitious and pragmatic, yet fundamentally committed to the preservation of Iran\u2019s Islamist order,\u201d said Ali Vaez, a senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group. \u201cThat makes him an unlikely candidate to offer Washington any meaningful concessions. And even if he were inclined to test the boundaries, Iran\u2019s military establishment and the broader security elite would almost certainly constrain him. In the aftermath of U.S. and Israeli actions, the mood in Tehran is not one of flexibility but deep mistrust; the system as a whole sees little reason to believe that either Trump or Israel would honor the terms of any prospective agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, many in the administration see Venezuela, a largely successful operation, as a model for what is still possible in Iran. That\u2019s why exiled opposition figure Reza Pahlavi is considered an unlikely option by the U.S. The administration does not believe he would have legitimacy inside Iran, the two administration officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch: The Conversation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

33:39<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruben Gallego wants to make Democrats fun again<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow do you put in Reza Pahlavi? God, no\u2026He grew up outside. That is the last thing you want to install there. That\u2019ll mean chaos,\u2019 the first official said. The second administration also confirmed Pahlavi is \u201cnot on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the first official added, the focus is on figures who already hold power inside the system \u2014 \u201clooking for the equivalents of the Chavistas\u201d \u2013 referring to the political movement named after former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. In Iran, that search is increasingly pointing toward the speaker of parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghalibaf denied any negotiations with the U.S.<\/u><\/a> on Monday, but administration officials dismissed his comments as internal posturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the testing phase of really trying to figure out who can rise, who wants to rise, who tries to rise,\u201d the first official said. \u201cAnd then as people rise, we\u2019ll do a quick test, and if they\u2019re radical, we\u2019ll take them out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A senior White House official said Trump is interested in pursuing a peace deal with Iran this week because he\u2019s looking for \u201cprogress\u201d in the Strait of Hormuz and a ceasefire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPOTUS, like anyone, would rather have peace than war,\u201d the senior White House official added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.<\/em>Filed Under: <\/p>\n\n\n\n