Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian declared that Tehran has emerged victorious in its confrontation with the United States, claiming that the international community has already recognized Iran’s triumph even as President Donald Trump intensifies a sweeping economic campaign aimed at crippling the Islamic Republic.
“The entire world approved our victory, and the U.S. is hated,” Pezeshkian said, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.
Pezeshkian reportedly argued that the conflict with Washington should now be brought to an end because, in his telling, Iran’s victory has already been established and accepted around the world.
His comments came as the Trump administration presented a dramatically different assessment of Iran’s position, saying Tehran is facing devastating financial pressure under a new American campaign that Trump has characterized as an “economic D-Day.”
Trump announced that Washington would unleash an “unprecedented” campaign of economic warfare and international isolation against Iran, with the goal of compelling Tehran to abandon its nuclear program and fully reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz to oil and natural gas tankers.
Separately, Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey, generated controversy Friday when he discussed Israel’s control of the Golan Heights and said Israel “still” occupies the territory despite United Nations resolutions.
Speaking in an interview with Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur Mario Nawfal, Barrack said that “in the Golan, with Syria, they (Israel) still occupy the Golan, against the U.N. resolutions.”
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and formally applied Israeli law to the territory in 1981.
The United Nations continues to regard the Golan Heights as occupied Syrian territory and considers Israel’s annexation invalid, with UN resolutions calling for an Israeli withdrawal to the line that existed on June 4, 1967.
Trump dramatically altered longstanding American policy in March 2019 when he signed a presidential proclamation formally recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
The American recognition did not alter the territory’s status under international law and initially failed to generate broader recognition from other governments.
That changed this month when Colombia became the second country to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, joining the United States.
Barrack’s comments drew criticism today from conservative activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer, who argued that his description of the Golan contradicted established US policy.
Loomer wrote on X that Barrack “should resign for his lack of understanding of U.S. foreign policy.”
