Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei entered the line of continuous verbal escalation between Tehran and Washington, this time using the novel “The Brothers Karamazov” by Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky, to accuse American foreign policy towards Iran of relying on what he described as “lies.”
Baghaei said, in a post on the “X” platform today, Saturday, that a passage from the famous novel “accurately describes the situation in which American foreign policy towards Iran found itself, due to its excessive reliance on lies,” as he put it.
Baghaei cited the content of a passage from the novel that talks about how a person who lies to himself and believes his lies reaches a stage where he loses the ability to distinguish between truth and lies, in direct reference to Washington’s way of dealing with Tehran.
Baqi’s position comes amid an increase in the intensity of the debate between the two countries over the Strait of Hormuz, after US President Donald Trump said that he would “very soon” declare the Strait as territory belonging to the United States after what he described as “Iran’s defeat,” before he later quoted a White House official as saying that Trump was “joking” when he made this statement.
Tehran responded in a sharp tone, as Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi confirmed that the Strait of Hormuz “will not be opened or closed except by order of Iran,” considering that the waterway cannot be controlled by tweets, aircraft carriers, or decrees.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi also renewed his country’s adherence to the conditions it put forward to restore shipping traffic through the strait, stressing that Tehran has not yet taken a decision to resume direct negotiations with the United States, and that the messages exchanged through mediators do not, according to his position, rise to the level of negotiations.
The war of words coincides with the faltering negotiation path between Washington and Tehran, at a time when regional parties are mediating to try to return the two parties to a negotiating path that allows for the stabilization of the calm and the resolution of the outstanding issues.
The Strait of Hormuz is at the forefront of these files, along with frozen Iranian assets, the US naval blockade, and the nuclear file, while Washington rejects Tehran’s demands to impose fees or financial controls on the movement of ships through the corridor.
On the other hand, the Trump administration is threatening more economic pressure, as US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent announced that additional measures against Iran will be revealed within days, as part of an attempt to increase pressure on Tehran and push it towards an agreement.
Between Washington’s threats and Tehran’s adherence to its conditions, the confrontation moved from aircraft carriers, sanctions, and the Strait of Hormuz to Russian literature, after Baghaei chose Dostoyevsky to be the latest tool in the Iranian debate with the American administration.
