RABAT, August 19. /TASS/. Iran must always be prepared for a confrontation, otherwise any contacts or dialogue with the United States will be fruitless, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of the Iranian Majlis (Parliament) has said.

"If we are not prepared for war, then negotiations with the US will be fruitless," the Iranian politician said, according to the Tasnim news agency.

According to Ghalibaf, who is currently visiting Iraq, "it is Washington and the war it unleashed that are causing instability in the region and disrupting normal trade routes."

The Iranian parliament's speaker explained that "the United States is currently in a state of paralysis and will lose credibility regardless of whether it withdraws from the war or continues it."