Iran: oil tanker hit by US missiles off Kharg Island

Iran has become more confident in its own capabilities and “appears determined to continue the conflict for months, with the aim of frustrating the United States”, not least in the run-up to the mid-term elections in November. This is reported by the New York Times, citing officials familiar with US intelligence reports drawn up in recent weeks. Although the resumption of fighting appears limited, the pattern of Iranian attacks suggests that the government in Tehran is considering a significant escalation, the newspaper notes. This new hardline stance by the Iranian authorities appears to be rooted in a growing awareness of their own military strengths and their ability to strike targets in the Middle East, as well as in the shortage of US ammunition and the leverage provided by the economic consequences of the attacks in the Strait of Hormuz.

“China’s emphasis on promoting common security reflects a principle that Iran has long upheld”: this was the view expressed in a post on X by the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who argued that “regional countries must take their future into their own hands”. “True stability can only be achieved through a new security architecture, devised and built within the region. Iran is ready,” added Ghalibaf.

“Americans, ask yourselves this: why should your sons and daughters have their debts written off in exchange for fighting and dying in a war that Israel wants to see continue and expand?” This is the message posted on X by the spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baghaei, who pointed out that “an opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post” is “openly proposing precisely this idea: using student loan and credit card debt to recruit Americans for the war against Iran. Your lives. Your taxes. Someone else’s war. Do not let anyone turn you into cannon fodder — and make you foot the bill — for a war you never chose’, is Baghaei’s appeal. “Don’t let anyone turn your children into mercenaries for their illegal ‘war of choice’. You know how, in *Squid Game*, you can risk your life to get out of debt? Well, you can do that today by enlisting,” he added.