Araghchi: Infiltration isn't just espionage, it existed at the decision-making level

What he says

An English translation of the talk, which is in Persian. It was made with AI from YouTube's automatic captions and may contain errors; the Persian transcript is authoritative. Click a timestamp to jump to that part of the video.

0:01 Hello. Monday, 29 Tir 1405, July 20, 2026. The tenth day of the third round of the war is drawing to a close as the United States today attacked and targeted locations from Tabriz to Shiraz, and from Bushehr to Iranshahr in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. Iran, in turn, has continued its attacks on Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan. In Jordan, ballistic missiles struck a place that is said to have been the quarters of

0:54 service-branch soldiers who were apparently working on preparing aircraft and helicopters. Two American servicemen were killed, and there is a third body that has not yet been identified, so three people may have been killed. So far, according to the Pentagon, the US Department of War, 13 Americans have been killed since the start of the war with Iran and 400 have been wounded, many of whom, of course, were treated as outpatients and released. Iran also targeted two

1:49 oil tankers belonging to a Greek company, once again threatening the Strait of Hormuz. This attack on the ships took place in the territorial waters of Oman, and Iran has announced that any ship wishing to pass through the strait must obtain permission from Iran and coordinate with it, and that the strait is closed. On the other side, Yemen's Houthis, that is, Ansarullah, who control the Sanaa government, have announced to Saudi Arabia that they will attack Saudi Arabia's port of Yanbu. They said "attack for attack, an eye for an eye," and that they are doing this in

2:47 retaliation for the attack by Saudi Arabia, or Saudi Arabia's puppet government, on Sanaa airport. It is said that the Houthis are getting ready to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait as well. If this actually happens, Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, which carries oil from Saudi Arabia's eastern regions to western Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea coast and the port of Yanbu... In effect, 7 million barrels of oil a day move through this pipeline, of which 2 million go to refineries in western Saudi Arabia, but

3:39 at least 5 million barrels of it are exported from that port. So if the Houthis manage to close the Strait of Hormuz, I mean the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, or put the port of Yanbu out of action, then the pressure of at least another 5 million barrels of oil will hit the oil market, a market into which, even now, 9 million 400 thousand barrels of oil less are flowing compared to before the US and Israeli war with Iran. Although the US has now tried to increase production, alternative energies have picked up speed, and so have electric cars, and likewise on the demand side,

4:31 demand has in fact not risen by more than 700 or 800 thousand barrels a day, the issue is that even up to this point, with the new round of clashes in the Persian Gulf, North Sea oil has reached $89 a barrel, around $90 a barrel. It is said that if the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is closed, oil will go up to $100 a barrel or higher, because ships, especially those carrying Saudi oil bound for the Far East, China, Japan, Korea and so on, will have no route and will have to

5:23 pass through the Suez Canal, go into the Mediterranean, pass through the Strait of Gibraltar, go down the Atlantic Ocean, round the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of the African continent, and then come back up through the Indian Ocean to the Far East, which adds at least 15 days to their voyage. Moreover, very large ships also have problems passing through the Strait of Hormuz and the Suez Canal. In addition, 20 percent of the world's container trade, which is mostly between Europe and the East, will be disrupted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb.

6:20 In any case, this news, plus the fact that Mr. Trump warned today that he has told his defense secretary, Mr. Pete Hegseth, that if any American is killed, Iran must pay a heavy price, signals an escalation of the clashes. This news has already affected the price of the dollar on Iran's open market, where it is fluctuating around 190,000 tomans per dollar, and with a slight change it is predicted to reach 200,000 tomans and higher. Economists warn that the issue of the rising dollar, or in fact the collapse of the Iranian rial, or

7:18 better to say the inflation rate in Iran, which is now hovering around triple digits, is not going to rise along a sloped line with a constant gradient. In fact, this could turn into hyperinflation, with its curve rising steeply upward, effectively an exponential function. Its rise is among the warnings economists have given, and it could even bring four-digit inflation in its wake. Even up to this point, according to the Islamic Republic government's own statements, 230 million cubic meters have been cut from the country's daily gas production capacity

8:14 because of the attacks on Asaluyeh and the refining facilities for the gas that comes from South Pars. This gas shortfall, out of roughly 600 to 700 million cubic meters per day, amounts to something like 25 percent that has been cut. This has put pressure on the country's industries and power plants, because 70 percent of the energy consumed by the country's factories and power plants is gas. As a result, unemployment, and the closure of industries and factories that cannot cope with gas rationing and fuel rationing, and

9:13 the lack of energy, plus the other problems factories face with market prices, labor and so on and so forth, is leading to factory shutdowns. And the power plant issue, in turn, puts pressure on electricity for industry and for household consumption, so announced blackouts have occurred in many parts of the country. In any case, the government has promised that within several months, if it keeps its promise, it can repair and restore 100 million cubic meters of this daily gas production. So you can see how much more terrifying it will be if these infrastructure facilities, especially in the

10:07 energy sector, suffer further damage, because then the catastrophe will be far greater. Anyway, on the other side, Qatar today proposed a 10-day ceasefire between the two sides. Eskandar Momeni, the Interior Minister in Mr. Pezeshkian's cabinet, has also left for Pakistan carrying a message from Mr. Pezeshkian, to bring Pakistan, which had in fact withdrawn from its role as intermediary and mediator, back into the arena. On the other side, Mr. Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, has also said that the US is always ready to negotiate, and a message has come from the Iranian side that they are ready to talk. Anyway, we hope that the fire of this

11:07 devastating war, which is costing the lives and livelihoods of millions of Iranians in every way, in lives, money, nutrition, health and so on, will end as soon as possible. Of course, I think this requires that the two axes of the Islamic Republic's foreign policy, namely the destruction of Israel and anti-Americanism, which for 47 years stood at the center of the Islamic Republic's foreign policy, be taken off the table. And naturally the projects that grew out of these two axes and have ruined our country, namely the

12:00 nuclear project and the proxy forces project, should consequently be removed from the country's agenda as well, so that perhaps calm can be established and only then can the people's suffering be addressed. But Mr. Araghchi's remarks on the program "The Story of the War," in his conversation with Mr. Javad Mogouei that aired yesterday, have caused a big uproar. At one point in this conversation, Mr. Araghchi said that infiltration is not just espionage and eavesdropping; rather, infiltration has existed at the decision-making level. In addition, the other points he

12:51 made about infiltration among the warmongers and so on have also caused a big uproar, although one can say that what he said is true and that he has put his finger on the right spot. Hoping for the victory of Iran and the Iranian people.