Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has made a direct appeal to Americans, saying the United States government under President Donald Trump “must be changed”. In a lengthy open letter (PDF) released on Tuesday, the IRGC tells Americans to “wake up” and “wrest control back from corrupt politicians”. The message comes five weeks before the midterm elections in the US and one day after the US-Israel war against Iran hit its seven-month mark.
Addressed to “the honorable people of the United States of America”, the letter accuses the Trump administration of misleading Americans about the war, Iran’s nuclear programme and who controls the Strait of Hormuz. It also declares Iran the victor in the war, arguing that the US has failed to meet any of its stated goals, including curtailing Iran’s nuclear programme. It argues that “the nations of Iran and America are both, each in their own way, victims” of the “corrupt politicians” in the White House.
The letter is not Iran’s first attempt to reach Americans directly. Since the war began on February 28, Iran-linked media and online networks have used artificial intelligence (AI) to generate Lego-themed videos, memes and other short-form content in English to push Tehran’s message about the war. The letter also offers an explanation for the “Death to America” slogan sometimes used in Iranian politics, insisting it is aimed at the US political establishment, not the American people.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi echoed the letter’s message, accusing Trump of being an “inveterate liar” and telling Americans “big lies” while in office. He also argued that US citizens are largely unaware of the “harms” of the Trump administration’s campaign. Trump has repeatedly cited the threat of nuclear weapons as one of the reasons for launching the war against Iran.
But Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon and has accused Trump of lying about its uranium enrichment programme, which it says is for civilian energy purposes. Mohebbi also pushed back against US assertions that Iran has lost much of its leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the global fuel and fertiliser trade. Since the start of the war, Iran has restricted traffic through the strait, and the US has responded with a blockade.
However, oil exports through the strait have been recovering, averaging about 13.2 million barrels per day over the past week, about 77 percent of their pre-war level, according to data from Kpler, a trade analytics firm. Trump has repeatedly argued that Iran is “losing badly”, and he recently dismissed an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as “unacceptable”. Both US and Iranian officials spoke separately with mediators on Monday as part of renewed efforts to end the war.
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