Inflation
February 13, 2026
Inflation
by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
I hope people around the world, especially Americans, are bright enough to understand that the Islamic Republic is not to blame for recent unrest inside Iran. On the contrary, imperialistic sanctions and other economic attacks caused our currency to collapse until it took forty-two thousand rial to equal one dollar. Our people couldn’t heat their homes or feed their families or get urgent medical care. They stormed into the streets and some did become violent, and our security forces had to protect themselves. This wouldn’t have happened unless the United States, and its attack dog Israel, had tried to destroy our government, our peaceful nuclear program, our nonnuclear ballistic missile deterrent, and our strategic alliance with other victims of Israeli barbarism in our region.
What do you expect us to do? We don’t seek nuclear weapons but we’re not going to unilaterally disarm so Israel and the United States face a helpless Iran. You don’t expect us to meekly throw up our hands and say, “Go ahead, shoot us,” do you?