Donald Trump, the U.S. president, shared a statement purportedly made by Mohammad Bagher Ghalifbaf. “We are starving, we cannot survive” is the headline of the post attributed to the speaker of the Iranian parliament and Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator. Ghalifbaf allegedly made these remarks during a meeting with Iranian and Iraqi economists in Baghdad, according to the Middle Eastern news agency Al Bawaba. “No matter how powerful our military becomes, if we are starving, we will not be able to endure,” Ghalifbaf reportedly warned — a claim that has not been independently verified by any other source. Notably, the Iranian official has previously made hardline statements against the United States.
The statement was republished by Newsmax, citing Al Bawaba — a major online news agency headquartered in Jordan. Newsmax is one of the most prominent and influential pro-Trump conservative media outlets in the United States, operating as both a news website and television network, and openly supporting President Trump’s political agenda.
Iran vs. the U.S.: stationing American refueling aircraft in Bulgaria was a mistake from the start
Tehran also issued a warning on Monday about the potential “spread” of the Middle East crisis into Europe. During a press conference, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei directly threatened Sofia with strikes, stating that Bulgaria was “helping the United States.”
Esmail Baghaei made clear that “the stationing of American refueling aircraft in Bulgaria was a mistake from the very beginning and is considered complicity in the war against Iran.”
Baghaei added: “There is no reason for countries to be concerned about the Islamic Republic, unless they have made their territory and infrastructure available to the United States.”
In this context, he warned that the Islamic Republic reserves the right to target the origin of any attacks launched against it and will show no leniency toward “attacking parties.”
“Under international law, targeting the point of origin and source of any act of aggression is a legitimate right of Iran, and there will be no leniency when it comes to defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country,” he stated emphatically.
