Acting President Mohammad Mokhber told ILNA news agency that Iran has "no intention" of negotiating with the United States. He is the second senior Iranian official — after national security chief Ali Larijani, who stated on 3 March that "we will not negotiate with the United States" — to publicly reject the premise of bilateral talks since President Trump claimed in The Atlantic that he had agreed to speak with Iran's new leadership.
The two rejections now span Iran's institutional architecture. Larijani's statement represented the security establishment — the IRGC-aligned apparatus that controls military operations and has historically held veto power over any diplomatic engagement with Washington. Mokhber's statement represents the executive branch, the civilian-facing arm of government that would normally conduct foreign policy. Together, they close the two channels through which any US-Iran negotiation would have to pass. The Assembly of Experts, the third pillar of post-succession governance, confirmed Mojtaba Khamenei as Supreme Leader under IRGC pressure — an appointment that further consolidates the security establishment's dominance over the political system. No institutional actor in Tehran now has both the authority and the stated willingness to engage Washington directly.
The diplomatic record of the past five days sharpens both rejections. Trump told reporters on 1 March that Iranian officials "want to talk"; the same day, Larijani said they would not. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Omani counterpart on Wednesday that Tehran was "open to serious de-escalation efforts" — preserving a narrow distinction between mediated de-escalation (left open) and direct bilateral talks with Washington (rejected). By Thursday, Araghchi's register had hardened; he stated publicly that Trump had "betrayed diplomacy and the Americans who elected him". The window between "open to serious efforts" and "betrayed diplomacy" closed in under 48 hours.
The Omani backchannel remains the only active diplomatic thread, and it has produced no movement. Oman's foreign minister Badr Albusaidi spoke with Araghchi on Wednesday, reaffirming the Sultanate's call for a ceasefire, but mediation requires both parties to accept a framework — and CENTCOM's directive to dismantle Iran's "security apparatus" has redefined the American war aim to encompass the very institutions that Mokhber and Larijani represent. Iranian officials are being asked to negotiate with a government whose stated operational objective is their removal. The structural incentive to engage has inverted: the broader Washington's war aims become, the less any Iranian interlocutor stands to gain from talking.
