Iran's Baghaei to Americans: 'Don't let anyone turn your children into mercenaries'

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, has told Americans to ask themselves: “Why should your sons and daughters be offered debt forgiveness in exchange for fighting and dying in a war Israel wants continued & expanded?” In a post on X, Baghaei cited a Jerusalem Post article he said calls for “using student-loan and credit-card debt to recruit Americans for war with Iran”. “Your lives. Your taxes. Someone else’s war. Do not let anyone turn you into the cannon fodder - and the bill - for a war you never chose,” Baghaei wrote. “Do not let anyone turn your children into mercenaries for their illegal 'war of choice.'” Americans, ask yourselves one question: Why should your sons and daughters be offered debt forgiveness in exchange for fighting and dying in a war Israel wants continued & expanded? An opinion column in The Jerusalem Post is openly floating exactly that idea: using student-loan… pic.twitter.com/CrN6GBUIr0 — Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) September 4, 2026