Iran's President Asks US: "America First" or Israel's Proxy?

In the message, released via Iranian state media Press TV, Pezeshkian explored the historical friction between Tehran and the US, tracing grievances back to the 1953 coup while simultaneously condemning recent military strikes on Iranian infrastructure.

The President maintained that the Iranian people hold no malice towards the American public. He urged the US population to look past "manufactured narratives," suggesting that the depiction of an Iranian threat is a fabrication designed by the military-industrial complex and Israeli political interests.

According to the letter detailed by Press TV, Pezeshkian described Iran as "one of the oldest continuous civilisations in human history." He asserted that the nation has never, in its modern era, opted for a path of "aggression, expansion, colonialism, or domination."

The Iranian leader argued that "portraying Iran as a threat" is a calculated move by powerful entities to "justify pressure, maintain military dominance, sustain the arms industry, and control strategic markets." He noted that in such a climate, "if a threat does not exist, it is invented."

Addressing the heavy American military footprint in the region, Pezeshkian noted that Washington has stationed a massive concentration of forces around Iran. As per the account provided by Iranian state media, he characterised Iran's defensive measures as a "measured response grounded in legitimate self-defence" rather than an "initiation of war or aggression."

The letter identified the 1953 coup d'etat as the pivotal "turning point" in bilateral relations. Pezeshkian described it as an "illegal American intervention" that dismantled Iran's democratic path and "sowed deep distrust among Iranians towards US policies."

He further highlighted that despite "the longest and most comprehensive sanctions in modern history," Iran has seen its literacy rates more than triple and has achieved "significant advances" in modern technology and healthcare.

Turning to the current conflict, the President questioned which American interests are served by a war involving the "massacre of innocent children" or "boasting about bombing a country back to the Stone Ages."

As reported by Press TV, Pezeshkian alleged that the US has entered this "aggression as a proxy for Israel," claiming the Israeli government seeks to "divert global attention away from its crimes towards the Palestinians" by inventing a Persian threat.

He claimed that Israel's strategic goal is to "fight Iran to the last American soldier and the last American taxpayer dollar." The President concluded by asking if "America First" is truly a priority for the current US administration.

In his final remarks, highlighted by Iranian state media, Pezeshkian invited the American public to "look beyond the machinery of misinformation" and consider the contributions of Iranian immigrants in the West as a counter-narrative to the "distortions" being presented about his country.

- ANI