As US and Israeli forces continued to bomb 30 of Iran’s 31 provinces, killing more than 1,300 people including hundreds of women and children, the top Iranian diplomat said Monday that his country does not want to hurt American civilians.
“Iran does not want to harm ordinary Americans who overwhelmingly voted to end involvement in costly foreign wars,” Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on social media. “Blame for surging gas prices, costlier mortgages, and pummeled 401(k)s lies squarely with Israel and its dupes in Washington.”
Araghchi was responding to a previous post by US petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan noting that gasoline prices have spiked by more than 50 cents per gallon in at least 18 states as a result of the US-Israeli war of choice.
“Nine days into Operation Epic Mistake, oil prices have doubled while all commodities are skyrocketing,” Araghchi posted earlier on Monday, mocking Operation Epic Fury, the official US moniker for the war. “We know the US is plotting against our oil and nuclear sites in hopes of containing huge inflationary shock. Iran is fully prepared. And we, too, have many surprises in store.”
Araghchi’s remarks came as Iranian officials said that more than 1,300 people—including at least 198 women and 190 minors—have been killed over nine days of US-Israeli attacks, including massacres like the missile strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab that left around 175 people dead, most of them children.
Hundreds of civilians, including 42 women and 83 children, have also been killed by Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
Retaliatory strikes by Iran and its Hezbollah ally in Lebanon have killed at least 11 Israelis, seven US troops, and at least 15 people in Gulf Arab nations.
Araghchi’s comments stood in stark contrast with US President Donald Trump’s cavalier public attitude toward potential American casualties from Iranian attacks.
Asked last week if American civilians should expect terror attacks in retaliation for the war, Trump replied, “I guess."
“We expect some things," the president added. "Like I said, some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.”
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