In the Mideast, US is seeing repeat of 1960s claims of victory even as its soldiers were dying in Vietnam: Iranian foreign minister

In the current Mideast conflict, the US is seeing a repeat of how in the 1960s, a top US general’s claims of victory in the Vietnam War flew in the face of reality, Iran’s foreign minister said Friday, Anadolu reports.

“Americans haven’t forgotten how (in 1967), even as hundreds of U.S. 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 U.S. was ‘winning’,” Abbas Araghchi wrote on US social media company X.

“The media haven’t forgotten either; those briefings full of fantasy from the frontlines became infamous as the ‘Five O’Clock Follies’,” he said.

The “same script, different stage” is playing out today, Araghchi said, adding: “(US Defense Secretary) Hegseth steps up, and the message is still detached from reality.”

US officials argue that Iran’s defenses are gone, yet an F-35 fighter jet was hit by weapons fire and went down, he said.

“As they declare Iran’s navy finished, (the) USS Gerald Ford turns back, and USS Abraham Lincoln drifts farther away. Different decade, same ‘we’re winning’,” Araghchi added.

Since Israel and the US launched joint attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, so far killing some 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hostilities have escalated.

⁠Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.