ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Wednesday warned of what he described as a new US plan to weaken Iran from within and potentially bring about its collapse through economic pressure and internal disputes, citing earlier comments by US President Donald Trump as evidence.

The comments referred to Trump's Tuesday remarks, in which he said Iran told Washington it is in a “state of collapse” and urged the United States to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, “as they try to figure out their leadership situation (Which I believe they will be able to do!)” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“The Iranian nation, with the support of God's grace, was able to defeat each and every one of these enemy plans,” Ghalibaf said, referring to the active participation of people with the government and what he claimed to be social unity in a voice message aired by state broadcaster IRIB on Wednesday.

“It was your epic and intelligent presence that neutralized all of this enemy's plot,” he said. 

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Wednesday warned of what he described as a new US plan to weaken Iran from within, citing US President Donald Trump's remarks on alleged discord between moderates and hardliners pic.twitter.com/hjSSOjd82w

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The senior Iranian official warned, saying, “Now the enemy has entered a new stage.”

Referring to the US under this moniker, he said Washington “wants to activate economic pressure and internal differences through naval calculation and media atmosphere-building and weaken us from the inside or even collapse,” he added. 

“The best witness to this new enemy plot is Trump's positions, which openly divide the country into two groups, extremists and moderates, and then immediately talk about naval calculation and then say that the siege will last until Iran can make an agreement,” Ghalibaf added. 

Ghalibaf further described what he called a plan “to force Iran to surrender through economic pressure and internal disputes,” urging unity as the only way to counter it.

He further noted that all the country’s leaders “are subordinate to the leadership,” referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, and stressing they “are united in following his orders.”

The US has imposed a naval blockade on Iran’s seaports, in response to the restrictions placed on the strategic Strait of Hormuz by Iran. Iran restricted access to the vital waterway after the recent war began. 

A fragile two-week ceasefire, initially set to expire on April 22 but recently extended by Trump, has halted the war, but tensions between the two sides remain high, as the economic impacts on global markets persist.

Trump has repeatedly said that Iran’s leadership is in disarray after US-Israeli strikes killed many of the top crop of the country’s leadership in the recent conflict and the 12-day war in June of 2025.

US and Iranian representatives met face-to-face for the first time in decades on April 11, aiming to come to a lasting agreement to stop the war, though no concrete accord has been reached as of yet.