Tehran, June 30 -- Defending Tehran's decision to continue high-stakes diplomatic engagement with the United States in Switzerland despite escalating tensions, Iran's Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, firmly declared that diplomacy does not imply weakness or friendship.

Speaking in a televised interview on Tuesday following his return from the Lake Lucerne Summit at the Burgenstock resort, Ghalibaf pushed back against domestic and regional critics who slammed Iran for engaging with Washington while Israeli military actions persist in Lebanon.

"I have said many times that negotiation is a method of struggle," Ghalibaf asserted. "Even now, when we are negotiating with America, we are not negotiating with a...