Araghchi: Israeli campaign dragging US into ‘unwinnable war’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that an Israeli influence campaign to draw the United States into an "unwinnable war of choice" against the Islamic Republic would "soon unravel," stressing that the US taxpayer money is being exploited to silence critics of Israel.
In a post on X, Araghchi said Americans were being warned about foreign influence while overlooking Israel's efforts to shape US policy toward Iran.
"Americans are being warned of Foreign Influence. How about the extensive Israeli Campaign to bamboozle the US Administration into an unwinnable war of choice?" he wrote.
Araghchi further stated that Israel was using US taxpayer money to suppress critics within the United States.
"Even worse, they are using US taxpayer funds to silence critical voices in America," he said, adding, "It will all soon unravel."
The post included a screenshot of a Time magazine investigation that reported Israeli authorities had hired Brad Parscale, US President Donald Trump's former campaign manager and digital strategist, to oversee a high-budget influence campaign targeting conservative audiences in the United States. Araghchi's remarks came as US military strikes on southern Iranian cities and ports continued for a sixth consecutive day, despite a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Tehran and Washington aimed at ending the conflict.
Separately, US Vice President JD Vance said in an interview published on Wednesday that some members of the Israeli cabinet had sought to influence American public opinion to prolong the war with Iran. While expressing confidence in some Israeli officials, Vance said others were "manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely." Vance also said that individuals linked to figures in the Israeli regime had orchestrated a campaign against him, including leaking information to journalists and launching attacks on social media, in an effort to undermine his support for a negotiated agreement with Iran based on Trump's guidelines.“When I see there's a literal foreign influence campaign being funded to take the very deal I was pursuing, and many of the people receiving that money were attacking me in dishonest ways. My response is ‘go to hell.'”