Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf mocked the U.S. Treasury over a hotter-than-expected inflation report, saying its forecasts for Iran’s collapse had passed and questioning whether the department deserved a Nobel Prize in physics.
Mocks Treasury Over Inflation
In a post on X, Ghalibaf said, “Let’s ‘play the percentages.’ Not in odds, but in the % increases.’
This was a jibe at Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who earlier this month said that he is “the house” in the U.S. bond market and that the house “plays the percentages.”
Ghalibaf added that “time’s relative; turns out it could be irrelevant. Nobel in Practical Physics for Treasury?”
Ghalibaf also mocked a string of predictions by the Treasury and said the forecast that Iran would have nothing in two weeks, the warning that wells would explode, and the talk of an ‘Economic D-Day’ had all passed.
The two-week jab was aimed at Bessent, who told Fox News that Iran would have “nothing left to trade for anything” within two weeks, once about 15 million barrels of oil still bound for China had left under the U.S. blockade.
Earlier, Ghalibaf turned a Halloween-themed ghost meme into a jab at the U.S. economy, taking swipes at the bond market and the jobs report while firing back that Washington’s sanctions are pushing Iran toward economic collapse.
U.S. Inflation Runs Hotter Than Expected
Consumer prices rose 3.7% year over year in September, up from 3.4% in August and above the 3.6% economists expected, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.3% on the month against a 0.2% forecast, and 2.6% annually against 2.5% expected.
Gasoline jumped 9.1% in September and is up 34.2% from a year earlier.
War Tensions Persist
Washington has stepped up its economic campaign against Iran, called Operation Economic Outcast, which seeks to restrict Tehran’s access to international financial networks and cut off revenue the U.S. government says helps fund Iran’s military operations and regional activities.
Iran’s Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, warned that Iran is ready to answer any renewed U.S. attack and said Trump could strike before the Nov. 3 midterms, though the president has said the U.S. will not resume strikes before the election.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo Courtesy: Maxim Elramsisy On Shutterstock.com
