Brief
Iran targets US public with cost‑of‑war messaging ahead of midterms
Iranian officials have been publishing articles and social‑media posts that stress the economic impact of the US‑Israel war on America ahead of the November midterm elections.
By Felo News Desk · Published
Iranian officials are directing messages at the American public that emphasize the economic toll of the war launched by the United States and Israel, according to Al Jazeera. The outreach comes as the United States prepares for its November 3 midterm elections.
What happened
Since the war began on February 28, Iran has used state‑affiliated outlets to publish articles linking the conflict to rising oil prices and higher US inflation. On Wednesday, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf shared a news story noting that US inflation rose to 3.7 percent the previous month, pairing it with a collage of negative US‑economy headlines and a comic strip of Wile E Coyote’s misfiring catapult.
In a separate post, Ghalibaf sent a message to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who leads the sanctions campaign against Iran, saying, “Let’s ‘play the percentages’. Not in odds, but in the % increases.” The post referenced the same inflation figure and suggested that the war is driving cost‑of‑living pressures.
What the reports add
Al Jazeera notes that senior non‑resident fellow Sina Toossi of the Center for International Policy said Tehran’s strategy is to increase the political cost of the war for the United States, rather than explicitly trying to influence which party wins the election. Toossi told Al Jazeera, “It’s not necessarily that they’re trying to get Democrats in power or manipulate US politics in a certain direction, other than just overall increasing the costs on this issue of the Iran war, and just playing that game of information warfare and getting out their own narrative and propaganda as well.”
What was said
Ghalibaf’s social‑media caption read, “Let’s ‘play the percentages’. Not in odds, but in the % increases,” directly addressing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Bessent, in a separate interview last month, likened the US economy to a casino while discussing the national debt and bond market.
Toossi told Al Jazeera that the messaging is aimed at the American public to highlight the war’s cost, adding that the effort is part of an “information warfare” campaign.
How it came about
The messaging follows a pattern documented in earlier Felo News coverage, which reported that Iran has disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz since the war’s start and that analysts expect Tehran to maintain pressure on the United States through the November 3 midterms (Felo, Sep 30). The same analysis highlighted the war’s economic strain, noting a $43 billion US spending estimate and a record low in Iran’s rial (Felo, Oct 4).
Key facts
- Iranian officials have been publishing articles linking the war to higher US oil prices and inflation. (aljazeera.com)
- Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted a collage about US inflation rising to 3.7 percent and addressed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. (aljazeera.com)
- Sina Toossi said Tehran aims to increase the political cost of the war for the United States ahead of the midterms. (aljazeera.com)
Sources
- [1] aljazeera.com — originally reported as “How Iran messaging highlights cost of war ahead of US midterm elections”
