Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, has described alleged Iranian threats against the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego as an attempt to “scare people with imaginary threats.”
Baghaei claimed in a post on X early Sunday, October 11, that the U.S. government was “creating an imaginary enemy in the sky” to frighten its own people.
He said the real threat was the U.S. political system, not something beyond the country’s borders or in the skies above Los Angeles and San Diego.
His remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump faced backlash late last week for suggesting that Iran could destroy cities on the U.S. West Coast, adding that such destruction would be a “small price” to pay for a “great victory” over Tehran.
“This is a classic example of the politics of fear: scaring people with an imaginary threat, portraying the destruction of their own cities as an acceptable price, and diverting their attention from the real danger,” Baghaei said.
Meanwhile, tensions between Iran and the United States have escalated sharply in recent months following Washington’s attack on Tehran and the killing of Ali Khamenei, Iran’s former supreme leader.
