TEHRAN — Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali has rejected US President Donald Trump’s remarks suggesting that Iranian military capabilities could threaten major American cities, describing the allegations as unfounded and unrealistic and saying they amount to little more than election campaign rhetoric.
In an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency, Jalali said Iran’s military doctrine was firmly based on defense and deterrence, emphasizing that the Islamic Republic had never initiated a war.
“Mr. Trump’s allegations about the possible destruction of American cities are completely unfounded, unrealistic, and amount to nothing more than campaign rhetoric,” Jalali said.
“Iran’s military doctrine is absolutely clear, responsible, and based on defense and deterrence,” he added.
The ambassador stressed that rejecting the allegations should not be interpreted as an underestimation of Iran’s defensive capabilities, particularly its missile power.
“We have never been the initiators of any wars. However, Iran’s capabilities and missile power are an indisputable, undeniable, and frightening fact,” he said.
Jalali also suggested that Trump was seeking to use the alleged Iranian threat for domestic political purposes, arguing that the US president appeared to be attempting to evade responsibility during the election campaign and turn Iran’s deterrent capabilities into a political instrument against his Democratic rivals in California.
Baqaei criticizes politics of fear
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei had earlier criticized the rhetoric surrounding the alleged threat to American cities, arguing that portraying Iran as an imminent danger served to frighten the US public and divert attention from the consequences of Washington’s own policies.
In a post on X, Baqaei wrote: “To frighten their own people, they conjure up an imaginary enemy in the sky to overshadow the real threat on the ground.”
He argued that the principal danger facing Americans did not originate beyond their country’s borders or in the skies above Los Angeles and San Diego, but rather from the policies of their own political establishment.
“The real danger lies neither beyond their borders nor in the skies over Los Angeles and San Diego. It lies in a ruling establishment that has imposed an illegal war on the world, with global consequences,” the spokesman said.
Baqaei also drew attention to Trump’s remarks about the possible destruction of the two California cities, noting that the US president had characterized such an outcome as “a very small price to pay.”
The Iranian spokesperson described the rhetoric as a textbook example of the politics of fear, in which an external threat is invoked to justify potentially devastating consequences while public attention is diverted from underlying political and security issues.
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