In an exclusive interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Fantina criticized US President Donald Trump and his administration’s approach to Iran, questioned Washington’s stated justifications for the war, and called on the international community to take practical steps to hold the United States accountable.
“The US government is not interested in peace; its only interests are achieving its two-tiered goal of power and profits. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, like all the members of Trump’s cabinet, is completely unqualified for the role to which he has been appointed. Likening current US aggression against Iran to a war fought almost 2,500 years ago is ridiculous on its face, and is even more so when considered with the fact that the event he discussed – the Persian destruction of Athens – was in retaliation for Athen’s destruction of the Persian city of Sardis. But what are the facts to the current US administration? Among the many and ever-changing purposes Trump and his minions have stated as the reason for the US-Israel unjust and immoral war against Iran is to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. While one may wonder why the leaders of two nuclear-armed nations, one of which is the only country ever to use them, believe they should be in charge of who can and cannot have such weapons, the greater issue is the fact that as early as 2007, US intelligence services have stated that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons.”
Fantina added that Trump’s statements and threats demonstrated hostility toward Iran’s history and civilization, arguing that Washington had long relied on portraying other countries and ideologies as enemies to justify its policies.
“Additionally, Trump has proven by his own statements that he is hostile to the entire Iranian civilization. He has threatened the total annihilation of the country, and his genocidal intent started with the first bomb dropped, the target being a girls’ school in Minab. The US always needs an ‘enemy’; for decades it was Communism, and now Islam is the alleged foe, with Iran being the more specific object of hostility. The government succeeded for years in sewing fear of Communism in a gullible US population and, following the September 11, 2001 attacks, found its new ‘monster’ in Islam. However, the project to demonize all things Islam has not had the success that the earlier project to demonize Communism had. This is evidenced by the overwhelming opposition to the war against Iran among the US populace.”
The American journalist contrasted the two countries’ histories, saying Iran’s long-standing civilization and cultural heritage stood in stark contrast to the relative youth of the United States. He also criticized the concentration of power in the hands of wealthy and self-interested elites.
“As a country, the United States has existed for 250 years; Iran has existed for ten times that long, and has a rich history and culture, one the US lacks for a variety of reasons, mainly due to its relative newness compared to Iran, on the world stage. And with ‘leaders’ like Trump, Rubio and others of their ilk, history will view the US as a failed experiment in democracy that, instead of a government ‘by the people’, it was run by self-interested wealthy elites who only brought about domestic and international suffering.”
Fantina said attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, as well as the use of food and medical assistance as instruments of warfare, constituted serious violations of international law.
“These actions taken by the US government are certainly violations of international law and are crimes against humanity. Non-combatants are protected by a number of Geneva conventions and other international laws. This is one reason why Rubio said that the US will attempt to destroy the International Criminal Court; the highest court in the world is one that can hold accountable war criminals such as Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. The US wants to continue to commit war crimes with impunity, as it has done for decades, and wants to assure that Israel can also continue to do so. However, none of that negates the clear fact that using access to food and medical assistance and destruction of civilian infrastructure as weapons of war are all war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
He called on other countries to use their economic and diplomatic leverage to increase pressure on Washington, including by reducing trade with the United States, severing military ties and expanding economic relations with Iran.
“The international community has many tools at its disposal that it could use, if it chooses to do so. While the United States is an economic powerhouse, it relies on global trade – both exports and imports – to maintain that status. Most countries have extensive trade relations with many other nations, and expanding those, while reducing trade with the US, would have an impact. Severing military ties, including requiring the removal of military bases from host countries, would also help to isolate the US on the international stage. And increasing trade with Iran, difficult now with the blockade but certainly not impossible, would also work to help end the US’ ongoing and blatant violations of the rights of the people of Iran.”
Turning to the prospects for ending the conflict, Fantina argued that Trump had underestimated Iran’s resolve and wrongly expected the country to surrender in the face of military pressure.
“Trump has no plan to end this war; the only plan he ever had was a myth, a fantasy that any intelligence briefing would have informed him was completely unrealistic. He believed two ideas that apparently originated in no other place than his own head: 1) After the assassination of the Ayatollah (PBUH), the people of Iran would rise and overthrow the government. This shows complete ignorance on Trump’s part of the loyalty the Iranian people have to their country, and the pride they have in their revolution that overthrew a brutal US-installed and supported puppet regime. The second mythical assumption is that Iran would not retaliate and the war would end within a matter of weeks. For anyone, especially the leader of a wealthy and powerful country, to believe that a country attacked would not respond in kind goes way beyond naïve.
“Since early March, Trump has repeatedly said that a ‘ceasefire’ agreement was on the verge of being signed; he proclaimed that Iran was ‘begging’ for a deal. None of this has come to fruition, except for a brief and failed ceasefire signed in June. Trump is aware, because the top military personnel in the US have advised him, that US military hardware has been dangerously depleted because of this foolish war. He should have learned by now that diplomacy – real diplomacy, not the kind where one party in negotiations bombs the other in the midst of those negotiations, as the US did in June of 2025 and February of this year – is the answer to ending this war. Iran has proven that it will not bow to military force or economic sanctions.
“With the US mid-term elections only weeks away, and the war extremely unpopular, it is hoped that new members of Congress will be elected who will recognize the folly of this war, and force the US to make reasonable diplomatic efforts and the necessary concessions to end it.”
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