1 hour ago
4
jw
Iran fired off its latest rhetorical shot at the US — unveiling a huge billboard in Tehran of President Trump’s face with an image of a choked Strait of Hormuz draped across it.
The strait, a vital waterway that is just 21 miles across at its narrowest point, is depicted as stitched shut right between Trump’s nose and upper lip.
The building-sized image, seen Saturday in Tehran, includes only a short blurb of text in Farsi and English: “At the Breaking Point” — and comes as the two countries trade threats about a return to military hostilities.
The regime in Tehran has long used propaganda to needle the US, even before it began lobbing missiles at Israel and Gulf allies in response to the devastating joint US-Israeli attack on Feb. 28.
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has been communicating only through written statements since he succeeded his late father — who was killed in the war’s opening strikes — once again called the US the “great Satan” in a message last week.
The strait has become the key economic pressure point in the war and the fragile yet continuing cease-fire.
Tehran has threatened ships and demanded “toll” payments in exchange for safe passage through the corridor, in turn driving up the price of oil in the global market, while the US imposed a blockade on Iran’s economic lifeline.
The waterway’s nearly complete closure has caused oil prices to spike above $116 per barrel — a nearly 60% jump since the start of the conflict.
Another much smaller billboard seen inside Tehran’s subway also pictures Trump, kneeling in submission with his head bowed, while extending his hand with a wad of cash.
It includes commentary stating Iran could haul in $110 billion each year by charging each vessel $2 million to get through the strait — a “toll” system that the US and the UN International Maritime Organization have said the Iranian regime cannot be allowed to impose on an international waterway.
English (US)