President Trump’s team, Vice President JD Vance, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff, will meet with Foreign Minister Abbas Arachchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
The ‘peace’ delegation, led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, is expected to engage in intensive negotiations with US representatives in Pakistan’s capital. Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, has posted two statements within 36 hours.
A ceasefire was announced on April 7, and the trial of Bibi Netanyahu was resumed on April 8.
Araghxhi announced it in two posts:
“Netanyahu’s criminal trial resumes on Sun. A region-wide ceasefire, incl in Lebanon, would hasten his jailing. If the U.S. wishes to crater its economy by letting Netanyahu kill diplomacy, that would ultimately be its choice. We think that would be dumb but are prepared for it.”
The Iran–U.S. Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the U.S. must choose—ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both.
The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments. pic.twitter.com/2bzVlHFKgi
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) April 8, 2026
A wider ceasefire, including Lebanon, would remove Israel’s last active front. Without an active front, there is no basis for emergency-related delays of the trial. Araghchi said not including Lebanon [Hezbollah] keeps the war alive. He posted it for the world to see, intending to hurt the American economy and restart the trial.
The Iranian Rulers Are Hardliners, Fanatics, Terrorists
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Parliament Speaker
One of the radicals President Trump’s team is negotiating with is the hardliner, Speaker of the Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. He is believed to be corrupt and hates America. He has ties to Palestinian terror groups and has served in the IRGC and rose to the commander of the Air Force.
During the 1999 Iranian student protests, he oversaw the violent crackdown in which security forces threw students off dormitory rooftops. He later bragged, “I was among those carrying out beatings on the street level, and I am proud of that.” He was then put in charge of Iran’s national police, the regime’s first line of suppression against dissent.
During his tenure as Tehran mayor in the mid-2000s, Ghalibaf presided over multiple corruption scandals, including the channeling of municipal funds and properties to IRGC-linked companies, embezzlement schemes tied to development projects, and efforts to block investigations.
As parliament speaker, he pledged support for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad during meetings with their officials in 2024 and more recently pushed back against compromise with Washington, saying, “We are certainly not seeking a ceasefire; we believe that we must strike the aggressor in the mouth.”
President Trump said he is negotiating with this man, and he is allegedly more moderate and reasonable. He’s playing us.
Massoud Pezeshkian, President of Iran, Propagandist
The others running Iran include the figurehead, Mehdi Pezeshkian. On April 1, he wrote a propaganda letter to the American people. Yesterday, he wrote:
To the southern neighbors of Iran, I say: You are witnessing a miracle, so look properly, understand, stand in the right place, and be wary of the false promises of the evil-minded devils. We are still awaiting an appropriate reaction from you so that we may demonstrate our brotherhood and goodwill; such an event cannot happen unless you turn away from the arrogant powers.
The Iranian leadership called President Trump a liar, and they are fine with no negotiations working because they have control, missiles, and the Strait of Hormuz. They know they can destroy Trump and that the weak European allies have nothing to offer. They are siding with Iran at this point.
Wikimedia Commons
SNSC Chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr
He will be part of the negotiations, and he is a central power broker.
Zolghadr is the system.
Zolghadr now heads the SNSC, the body that coordinates Iran’s military, intelligence, and foreign policy while shaping decisions on war, internal security, and the nuclear program. He is a veteran IRGC commander and laid the foundation for the Quds Force. He led the IRGC and the Basij.
Canada sanctioned him in 2022 for gross human rights violations during protests.
Super important
Translation:
Regarding Zolghadr, let me tell you a part of his background that you’ve probably heard less about—this comes from old oil company records.Do you know what happened in 1978?
More than 4,000 foreign oil industry workers left Iran within a few weeks https://t.co/MSfeYPCQo1 pic.twitter.com/64A9qiIoIM— Constance (@Constan63413921) March 25, 2026
IRGC Commander Ahmad Vahidi
The current murder-suicidal death spiral by the IRGC is his deliberate policy. He was reportedly killed but was appointed in charge of the IRGC. Allegedly, he is calling the shots.
As the commander of the regime’s primary military and ideological body, Vahidi is not only directing war efforts but also central to maintaining internal coercion.
He is the IRGC thug who has brutalized the people.
The EU imposed parallel sanctions in 2022 for the use of live ammunition and the arbitrary detention of protesters and journalists.
He was sanctioned by Washington and the EU. INTERPOL has a red notice on him for his role in the 1994 AMIA bombing in Argentina that killed 85 people. A Quds Force commander from 1988 to 1998, he is also linked to the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing that killed 241 U.S. service members, the 1996 Khobar Towers attack, and a 2008 embassy attack in Yemen.
Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei
Ejei, a cleric, has served as the chief justice of Iran since 2021 after previously holding roles as head of the Ministry of Intelligence (MOI) and prosecutor general. Iran’s courts and MOI work in tandem to target dissidents and codify repression, with Ejei having run both arms.
He is now demanding the expansion of the death penalty and calling for faster executions.
Iran has executed 10 political prisoners in days. Instead of stopping, Judiciary Chief Mohseni Eje’i is demanding an expansion of the death penalty.
Who is Eje’i? How he became the regime’s ultimate enforcer. 🧵👇pic.twitter.com/A3iDuS1AMB— Pasha Borjkhani (@BorjkhaniP1847) April 9, 2026
Iran has recorded rising annual executions since he assumed the role of judiciary chief in 2021, and he now oversees the public hangings of protesters detained during the January 2026 wave, following through on earlier threats to show “no mercy.”
Law Enforcement Command Chief Ahmad-Reza Radan
As a veteran police commander leading the regime’s first line of repression, Radan has overseen forces that not only kill ordinary Iranians on the streets but also track, hunt, and arrest them afterward.
In this TV broadcast Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Radan performed a “prostration of gratitude” to families of those “martyred” by US-Israel airstrikes. He’s Chief Commander of the Police Command of the Islamic Republic… he didn’t bow to the 1000s of protesters he has killed.… pic.twitter.com/TlTYeLJuTd
— Mark Vallen (@mark_vallen) April 9, 2026
The United States sanctioned him in 2010 for his role as deputy chief of Iran’s Law Enforcement Command overseeing the violent suppression of the 2009 protests, a basis later echoed by the EU in 2011 and maintained by the UK in 2020. As repression persisted, Canada in 2024 and Australia in 2026 imposed similar sanctions, all citing his command responsibility for violent crackdowns and arbitrary detention.
His role in terrorizing Iranians is especially critical during wartime, having ordered the arrest of more than 21,000 people during the 12-Day War and announcing more than 500 additional arrests since the current conflict began. He has also preemptively threatened demonstrators, warning that his forces “have their fingers on the trigger.”
These are the monsters we have to appease?
FDD provided most of the research and links.