Ali Kord, a member of the parliament’s social commission, told the Jomaran news website: “Mediation by Qatar or any country on the periphery of the Persian Gulf is meant to fool us; it slows down our pace and causes us not to be prepared. On the other hand, they want to leave us in limbo so that we are present in meetings and gatherings.”

This member of parliament added on Friday, 15 Aban: “Before the attack on 9 Esfand of last year, these small Gulf states fooled us with their wrong diplomacy, which led to the joint attack by the United States and Israel on the country.”

He added: “I am not optimistic about this mediation; unless that negotiating team and the Qatari mediator, transparently in four languages—Arabic, English, French, and Persian—announces that we believe the Islamic Republic is right for having defended itself; that we consider the right of sovereignty and tight control of the Strait of Hormuz as belonging to Iran; and that we accept that Iran has not carried out aggression and terrorism anywhere in the world.”