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Tehran-based international relations professor and former diplomat Abbas Khamayyar has said that US President Donald Trump’s public statements and social media posts are uniting the Iranian people rather than creating divisions among them.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Khamayyar said reports of a severe fuel crisis in Iran were being exaggerated. Commenting on reports of long queues at petrol stations in Tehran, he said people were not having to wait more than half an hour and that the issue was only a recent development.
He also noted that Iran’s per-capita fuel consumption is nearly five times the global average because of the country’s low fuel prices and easy availability. Referring to Iran’s domestic political situation, Khamayyar said large public gatherings at various events, including the funeral of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, demonstrate that Iranian society always comes together in the face of external challenges and foreign attacks.
He claimed that Trump’s statements and social media posts, which sought to create divisions among Iranians through psychological warfare and intimidation, had failed and were instead producing the opposite effect.
Khamayyar further said that despite the United States’ superior military capabilities, Washington had failed to translate them into strategic success. He argued that Washington’s frequent changes in its targets were clear evidence of an incoherent and chaotic strategy.
The former diplomat also said that the United States’ short-sighted policies had severely damaged its image in the eyes of the international community.
