Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, has called for the Iranian people to “maintain unity” in the face of the US blockade and other economic pressure, which he warned is aimed at collapsing Iran “from within.”
In a statement issued through Iranian media, Ghalibaf said that President Trump “divides the country into two groups: hardliners and moderates, and then immediately talks about a naval blockade to force Iran into submission through economic pressure and internal discord.”
The Trump administration has been pushing a narrative that the Iranian leadership is divided, with some wanting a deal with the US while others don’t. But publicly, Iranian leaders have maintained a unified front and have insisted that real diplomacy won’t happen until the US lifts the blockade.
Ghalibaf said that the US has entered a “new phase and wants to activate economic pressure and internal division through naval blockade and media hype to weaken or even make us collapse from within.”
Also on Wednesday, an Iranian military source speaking to PressTV warned that the US would soon face “practical and unprecedented action” if it continues the blockade.
“Iran’s armed forces – operating under the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters as the war command – believe that patience has limits and that a punishing response is necessary if Washington maintains its illegal naval blockade around the Strait of Hormuz,” the Press TV report said.
President Trump has signaled that he’s planning a long-term blockade, but the continued enforcement will exacerbate the global economic crisis caused by the war and the rising gas prices in the US. Joe Kent, the former head of the US National Counterterrorism Center, who resigned over objections to the Iran war, said in a post on X that the blockade really puts more pressure on the US.
“Continuing the blockade puts far more pressure on us than on Iran. Iran has proven it can endure economic pain — it has been doing so since 1979. The blockade will not force Iran to abandon uranium enrichment, ballistic missiles, or its proxy networks,” Kent wrote.
“Instead, the blockade is hurting the American people and creating serious domestic pressure on POTUS: Gas prices will continue to rise as we head into the midterms, harming the working-class voters who overwhelmingly backed Trump and Republicans—putting GOP majorities in serious jeopardy,” he added.
Kent also noted that the blockade is creating a “global fertilizer shortage that will cause major food security crises and potential famines in vulnerable regions.”
