US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent huffily denounced Iranian leaders on Friday after being moved to a US military base amid alleged security concerns from a threat linked to Iran.
“F the Iranian leadership,” Bessent said during an appearance on CNBC. He actually said the letter F, like a little kid describing something he heard a grownup say.
“I’m not gonna be cowered that they have initiated death threats against me,” Bessent added. “The other members of the cabinet, we’re not gonna be cowered, and it means that what we are doing with Operation Economic Outcast is working.”
“The IRGC, they’re like a dangerous cornered animal,” Bessent proclaimed.
“Operation Economic Outcast” is the Trump administration’s current slogan for its efforts to cripple the Iranian economy.
Bessent has repeatedly admitted to deliberately fomenting the violent unrest in Iran at the beginning of this year, saying the US actively crushed the Iranian economy with the explicit goal of driving a desperate, immiserated population to civil war against their government.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in January of this year, the treasury secretary said the following:
“President Trump ordered Treasury and our OFAC division, Office of Foreign Asset Control, to put maximum pressure on Iran. And it’s worked, because in December, their economy collapsed. We saw a major bank go under; the central bank has started to print money. There is dollar shortage. They are not able to get imports, and this is why the people took to the street. So, this is economic statecraft, no shots fired, and things are moving in a very positive way here.”
Bessent repeated the same claim when speaking to the Senate Banking Committee in February:
“One thing we could do at Treasury, and what we have done, is created a dollar shortage in the country. At a speech at the Economic Club in March I outlined the strategy. It came to a swift and I would say grand culmination in December when one of the largest banks in Iran went under. There was a run on the bank, the central bank had to print money, the Iranian currency went into free fall, inflation exploded, and hence we have seen the Iranian people out on the street.”
So it’s kind of hilarious to see this mummified bureaucrat posturing as a tough guy for the cameras and acting like he’s being unjustly targeted by an evil regime. He and his own regime are the obvious aggressors here.
As Glenn Greenwald mockingly put it, “Oh my god I started a war against a country and killed their leaders and blew up their schools and bridges and massacred their kids and now I am morally outraged that I feel scared and moved to a military base because of what they might do in response.”
I always reflexively dismiss all claims that Iran is targeting US officials, just because the claims are always presented without any evidence and the US consistently lies about the governments it is targeting in order to justify its tyrannical warmongering. That which has been presented without evidence may be dismissed without evidence.
But for the record Iran would be completely within its rights to assassinate US officials, and those US officials would 100 percent deserve it.
You don’t get to start an unprovoked war of aggression, assassinate the leaders of a sovereign nation, massacre schoolchildren, deliberately target civilian infrastructure, deliberately immiserate the entire population with the goal of provoking civil war, and then posture as an innocent widdle victim if you get back what you dished out.
“F the Iranian leadership”?
Fuck you.
______________
We’ve got a new book! It’s a graphic novel called Babyhead, entirely hand-drawn by Caitlin. You can order a locally printed signed copy from Caitlin and Tim by clicking here, or you can order a cheaper unsigned copy from Amazon by clicking here. If you order now we can get it to you before Christmas.
My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece here are some options where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you feel inspired. All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley. No generative AI used in any works.
Feature image is a screen grab from CNBC (Fair Use).
Depressingly predictable.
But even more depressing is how many still fall for it. ☹️
It's a conflict of interest for these blood-soaked politicians to reap any money whatsoever for their warring. Can we at least make that illegal???