Iran security head says Trump 'rightly worried' about more casualties in 'unnecessary war'

Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief has ruled out peace talks with the United States and claimed that Donald Trump is worried about further conflict.

In statements posted to X, Ali Larijani confirmed the US and Iran had not entered any form of peace talks and that they would be unlikely to do so after a series of strikes on the Middle East over the weekend. Trump confirmed the strikes in a Truth Social post, with three days of bombing seemingly set to continue.

Larijani wrote, "TRUMP HAS BETRAYED 'AMERICA FIRST' TO ADOPT 'ISRAEL FIRST.'” A separate post from Larijani, just moments after that, saw the Secretary of the NSC denounce the attacks and Trump.

"Trump's wishful thinking has dragged the whole region into an unnecessary war and now he is rightly worried about more American casualties," he wrote. "It is indeed very sad that he is sacrificing American treasure and blood to advance Netanyahu's illegitimate expansionist ambitions."

In previous posts made by Larijani, the NSC head claimed Trump had been acting on delusion when he first orchestrated the strikes, and that blame for the war rested on the US administration.

He wrote, "Trump plunged the region into chaos with his 'delusional fantasies' and now fears more American troop casualties.

"With his delusional actions, he turned his self-made 'America First' slogan into 'Israel First' and sacrificed American soldiers for Israel's power-hungry ambitions...

"...and with new fabrications, it is once again imposing the cost of assassinating its own character on American soldiers and families. Today, the Iranian nation is defending itself. The armed forces of Iran did not initiate the aggression."

Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow and Iran specialist at the Middle East Institute in Washington, previously criticized the Trump admin for not having a clear plan for the future of the region.

He said, "If the administration has a game plan, they have yet to reveal it, frankly. He’s going to have to move in the direction of a bigger political project, which isn’t just the military part, but a deeper conversation in his administration about what sort of regime change they could bring about."