Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has drawn an analogy between the US war in Iran and the Vietnam War, saying it's like 'Five O'Clock Follies' all over again.
The 'Five O'Clock Follies' were daily military press briefings in Saigon in the 1960s that projected optimism even as the US lost over 50,000 soldiers in the conflict.
Araghchi claimed that while Donald Trump and his fellow American leaders continue to say the US 'is winning' in Iran, the situation on the ground is different.
He pointed to the recent incident where an F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing after being struck by Iranian fire, and satellite imagery confirming that two US aircraft carrier groups had withdrawn from their forward positions in the region.
US officials have said that the US is 'winning decisively' and that Iran's air defenses have been 'flattened', but Araghchi says this is not reflected in reality.
The US has lost at least 13 military service members in operations against Iran, with roughly 200 others wounded, while in Iran, over 1,400 people have been killed and 18,000 injured.
