‘Boo! Are you ready?’: Iran’s Ghalibaf trolls US economy, takes jibe at Treasury Secretary Bessent
Ghalibaf’s latest post comes amid an increasingly hardline Iranian position on both diplomacy and the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Tuesday posted a cryptic message on X, accompanied by a graphic, in an apparent response to recent US economic projections amid the ongoing standoff between Tehran and Washington.
Ghalibaf, who is also Iran’s chief negotiator, posted a graphic on X, with the message “Boo! Are you ready?”, taking a dig at the US economy and hinting how Washington is scaling a war with Iran even at the expense of higher crude prices, lower consumer confidence, poor housing affordability index among a host of other factors.
Boo! Are you ready? https://t.co/mvc8XBFtk4
— محمدباقر قالیباف | MB Ghalibaf (@mb_ghalibaf) October 6, 2026
Ghalibaf also attached the post of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who said on Monday that the Iranian rial was plunging to record levels on account of Operation Economic Outcast and that Tehran was not able to load any of its tankers with crude oil last month.
Operation Economic Outcast is delivering results: the rial has plunged to record lows, Iran loaded zero crude oil onto tankers last month, and even Iran’s top security official has admitted the country is facing one of the most difficult periods in its history. The Iranian regime allows its own people to suffer while it pours resources into terrorism. Operation Economic Outcast will not stop until the Iranian regime understands that the Trump Administration will never allow the regime to fund terrorism and develop a nuclear weapon. — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) October 5, 2026
Ghalibaf’s latest post comes amid an increasingly hardline Iranian position on both diplomacy and the Strait of Hormuz. On Sunday, he said Iran would not reopen the waterway until seven conditions outlined in the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding were fulfilled, while stressing that Tehran would pursue diplomacy alongside military preparedness.
Iran has also warned that disruptions to its oil exports could have wider consequences for regional energy supplies. In late September, Ghalibaf said that if Iran could not sell its oil, other countries in the region would also face consequences, while warning that regional infrastructure could be affected if Iran’s security was not guaranteed.
Iran facing ‘economic war’ but has a plan to counter US pressure: Central bank chief
Iran is facing an “economic war” under intense US pressure, but Tehran has a plan to withstand the financial squeeze, said Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati while signalling that Iran has sufficient control over its currency market to counter attempts to destabilise its economy.
Speaking about the economic pressure on Iran, Hemmati acknowledged that the situation was difficult but insisted that the government was not without a strategy.
“We know the conditions, the problems and the pressures – and we understand that people experience these in their daily lives,” Hemmati said, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
“The pressure is heavy, but we also have a plan for it. It is not like we are without a plan,” he added.
Hemmati also pointed to the Central Bank’s intervention in the currency market as evidence that Tehran still has the ability to provide foreign currency despite mounting US pressure.
He said the decision to inject $2 billion in currency into the market was intended to send a message directly to Trump and his Treasury Secretary that that the country has no shortage of foreign exchange.
“The reason we provided $2 billion in currency to the market was to make it clear to Trump and his Treasury Secretary that we have no problem supplying currency,” said Hemmati.
Hemmati said Iran had supplied about $24.9bn in foreign currency by early October, down about 12 percent from $28bn during the same period last year.
Describing the United States as an “economic superpower”, Hemmati accused the Trump administration of waging an economic war against Iran. “We are confronting an economic superpower. This government, in fact the American government, is a government of cruelty,” he said.
He also referred to the deaths of Iranian civilians and senior figures during the conflict, saying the economic pressure had to be viewed alongside the wider confrontation between the two countries.
Hemmati claimed that US officials had predicted that Iran would face economic collapse within two weeks. Ten days into that period, he said, Iran remained capable of responding to the pressure.
“Ten days ago, they announced that Iran would face economic collapse in two weeks. Now, 10 days have passed and we are on the front lines of the economic war, and we will give them the same answer,” he said.
Hemmati’s comments come as the Strait of Hormuz has emerged as a major flashpoint in the US-Iran confrontation.
On Tuesday, Trump claimed that the strategic waterway “belongs to the United States of America” and said US forces would target Iranian vessels attempting to circumvent the blockade.
The US president has also said the Iran war could end “the nice way or the not-so-nice way”, signalling that Washington remains prepared to escalate military pressure if Tehran does not comply with its demands.