🔻In response to his remarks by Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf about U.S. sanctions and the state of Iran’s economy becoming newsworthy, Eiman Shamsaei, the head of the Majlis communications and media center, said: “Hostile media and political–election beneficiaries have resorted to distortion and selective quoting.” After Mr. Shamsaei said that the complete film would be released for the public to judge, the House of Majlis News Agency published a 16-minute file of Mr. Qalibaf’s remarks.

Recently, a portion of Mr. Qalibaf’s remarks at a gathering with Iranian and Iraqi businessmen in Baghdad was released, in which he had warned that “however much military power we have, if people are hungry and there is no flow of funds, economic growth, and domestic production, we will not be able to last.”

The remarks by Iran’s speaker of the Majlis had wide coverage in international media. Some supporters and media outlets close to the government criticized Qalibaf and accused him of “backing down in front of the United States.”

The head of Iran’s Majlis media center, in a post on the X social network about Mr. Qalibaf’s remarks, wrote: “Raising economic challenges of Iran and Iraq among the activists of the private sector of the two countries, along with the presentation of economic and dignified solutions.”