ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday compared Washington’s war briefings in the current conflict to those during the Vietnam War, accusing them of being overoptimistic and challenging their credibility.

“Americans haven’t forgotten how, even as hundreds of US soldiers were dying in Vietnam, and the outcome was already clear, General William Westmoreland was flown home to reassure everyone that the war was going well — that the US was ‘winning,’” Araghchi said.

“The media haven’t forgotten either; those briefings full of fantasy from the frontlines became infamous as the ‘Five O’Clock Follies,’” he added, referring to the daily 05:00 pm briefings during the Vietnam War between the mid-1950s and 70s, which were considered overoptimistic and created a credibility gap.

As the US-Israel war with Iran nears the three-week mark, the US has held press briefings led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Dan Caine that have touted the successes of the campaign in triumphalist tones. US President Donald Trump has also repeatedly claimed that Iran has been “decimated.”

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday said that Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is "wounded and likely disfigured," citing the fact that he presented his inaugural statement upon assuming the role in written form and did not make a physical appearance pic.twitter.com/lchrVQ4p6u

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“Fast forward to today: same script, different stage; Hegseth steps up, and the message is still detached from reality,” Araghchi said, adding that while the US claims Iran’s air defenses are gone, an F-35 was hit and while it says the navy is defeated, its aircraft carriers drift further away.

During the last press briefing, Hegseth said some of the media want to make people believe that “just 19 days into this conflict that we're somehow spinning toward an endless abyss or a forever war.” 

“Nothing could be further from the truth. Hear it from me, one of hundreds of thousands who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, who watched previous foolish politicians like Bush, Obama and Biden, squander American credibility. This is not those wars. President Trump knows better. Epic Fury is different. It's laser-focused,” he stressed.