Iran “will not negotiate with the United States”, Ali Larijani, the powerful head of Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council said on Monday.

In a post on X, Larijani denied media reports that Iranian officials had sought to initiate talks with the Trump administration following a wave of US-Israeli strikes on Iran over the weekend, which came after Tehran and Washington held nuclear negotiations.

Larjani says US leader Donald Trump’s “delusional fantasies” have plunged the Middle East into chaos
“Trump plunged the region into chaos with his ‘delusional fantasies’ and now fears more American troop casualties,” Ali Larijani wrote on X, following a wave of US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

The US launched strikes on hundreds of Iranian targets, while Israel extended its bombing campaign to Lebanon on Monday. Trump vowed to retaliate for the first American casualties in the conflict, which he initiated to challenge Tehran’s ruling clerics.

In response, Iranian forces fired missiles and drones across the region, striking locations in Israel and the United Arab Emirates, marking a rapid escalation after the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Saturday.

The US military broadened its operations across Iran on Sunday, claiming it destroyed the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the elite unit responsible for maintaining the theocracy since 1979. “The IRGC no longer has a headquarters,” US Central Command said.

Meanwhile, Israel reported carrying out “large-scale strikes” in Tehran and expanded its operations into Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah, the Shiite movement closely aligned with Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, whose authority is subordinate to the supreme leader, condemned Khamenei’s killing as a “declaration of war against Muslims.”