How Iran messaging highlights cost of war ahead of US midterm elections

Through statements in English, Iranian officials are emphasising gas prices and issues with the US economy. Save Share In messages that appear to be directed at the American public, Iran has been highlighting the cost of the war that the United States and Israel launched against the country ahead of the United States midterm elections. Iranian officials have published articles in state-affiliated outlets stressing the disastrous impact of the war on oil prices and the US economy, while Iran’s chief negotiator and Parliament SpeakerMohammad Bagher Ghalibafhas actively targeted US officials about rising costs and military spending. Sina Toossi, a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, said Tehran is looking to increase the political cost of the war for Trump by trying to talk directly to the American public. “It’s not necessarily that they’re trying to get Democrats in power or manipulate US politics in a certain direction, other than just overall increasing the costs on this issue of the Iran war, and just playing that game of information warfare and getting out their own narrative and propaganda as well,” Toossi told Al Jazeera. Trump’s Republican Party is looking to retain control of the Senate and House of Representatives in next month’s midterm vote. But the Democratic Party, which largely opposes the war with Iran, is mounting a strong challenge across the congressional electoral map, including in areas that have been conservative strongholds for decades,such as Texas. On Wednesday, Ghalibaf shared a news story oninflation risingto 3.7 percent last month along with a collage of negative headlines on the US economy. The social media post also featured a comic strip from the Road Runner cartoon showing Wile E Coyote building a catapult that misfires and launches a boulder at him. “Let’s ‘play the percentages’. Not in odds, but in the % increases,” Ghalibaf wrote in a message to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has been leading the sanctions campaign against Iran. Bessent said last month that he represents “the house”, likening the economy to a casino while addressing the national debt and bond market. Ghalibaf’s remark referred to the increase in inflation, underscoring that the cost of living keeps rising due to the war despite Bessent’s assertions. Days earlier, he shared an image of a ghost shaped like a bell curve, with diesel prices rising and housing affordability and consumer confidence falling....