Iranian officials accused the United States of understating the cost of the war and rejected a U.S. State Department explanation that framed the conflict as self-defense.
Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X that the “Pentagon is lying” about the economic cost of the war, which he said was launched by the Trump administration on Feb. 28 alongside Netanyahu.
“Netanyahu’s gamble has directly cost America $100b so far, four times what is claimed,” Araghchi wrote.
Araghchi also claimed the indirect cost to U.S. taxpayers is far higher. He said the “monthly bill for each American household is $500 and rising fast,” adding, “Israel First always means America Last.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei also challenged the U.S. legal justification for the war. In a post on X, Baghaei cited a U.S. State Department document that described the conflict as collective self-defense of Israel and an exercise of the United States’ own right of self-defense.
Baghaei rejected that explanation, asking, “Self-defense against what?”
“Was there any ‘armed attack’ by Iran to justify ‘self defense’? Definitely not!” he wrote.
He said the conflict was “absolutely NOT ‘self-defense’” and called it “an act of AGGRESSION against the nation of Iran.”
Iran’s chief justice, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, said Tehran had not stopped negotiating with the United States, according to IRIB News.
“We do not welcome war, but we are not afraid of it,” Mohseni-Ejei said, according to IRIB. “If our dignity is threatened, we will fight for our dignity, this is the firm position of our nation.”
Mohseni-Ejei said Iran supports negotiations but would not accept pressure at the negotiating table.
“We certainly do not accept imposition,” he said. “An enemy that has not achieved any of its goals and objectives through aggression and threats cannot be imposing or demanding at the negotiating table either.”
He also said Iran would pursue legal action against Washington.
“We will pursue and punish war criminals and obtain compensation from them,” Mohseni-Ejei said, according to IRIB.
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