FOREIGN Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran remains ready to resume direct military conflict with the United States, if negotiations fail to produce acceptable results.
Amid a stream of state-orchestrated messaging to both domestic and foreign audiences, Araghchi also warned that despite the damage the US-Israel war on Iran has done to the region, it is also impacting ordinary American households.
US energy and inflation costs have increased significantly since the conflict began on February 28, resulting in the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas is normally shipped.
“Americans are told that they must absorb rocketing costs of war of choice on Iran,” Araghchi wrote on X, coupled with an image of rising yields on US Treasury bonds.
“Put aside gas price hike and stock market bubble, real pain begins when US debt and mortgage rates start to jump. Auto loan delinquencies are already at 30+-year high.”
Inflation in the US
Araghchi’s message to people in the US was essentially that inflation in the US will continue so long as the threat of war is maintained, predicting that the pressure will soon translate into higher borrowing costs, leading to a potential recession.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the parliament speaker who led the first round of talks with the US in April, also highlighted the financial cost of the war for Americans, albeit with a more mocking tone.
“So, you’re funding [Pete] Hegseth the failed TV host at rates unheard of since 2007, so he can cosplay as Secretary of War in our backyard in Hormuz?” Ghalibaf posted on X on Thursday, referring to the US defense secretary.
“You know what’s crazier than $39 trillion in debt? Paying a pre-GFC [global financial crisis] premium to fund a LARP [live-action role-playing] and all you’ll get is a brand new GFC,” the post said.
The comments followed the US government’s auction on Wednesday of $25bn worth of 30-year bonds at a five percent yield, which has not been done in nearly two decades.
On Friday, benchmark 10-year Treasury yields hit their highest in about a year, with traders anticipating potential interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve to counter rising inflation on global energy markets caused by the Hormuz blockade.
A key sticking point in negotiations between the US and Iran has been the future of the strait. Iranian officials insist that any agreement with Washington must grant Tehran sovereignty over the waterway – a demand rejected by other Gulf states which have highlighted its international status.
Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission, said on Saturday that Tehran has “prepared a professional mechanism to manage traffic in the Strait of Hormuz along a designated route, which will be unveiled soon”.
“In this process, only commercial vessels and parties cooperating with Iran will benefit from it,” he said, adding that vessels would have to pay fees, and that supporters of Washington’s ‘Project Freedom’ would be denied access.