Mike Ferner Says US-Israeli War Against Iran Driven By Corporate Profit, Not Nuclear Concerns

An American anti-war activist, Mike Ferner, told Press TV that the US-Israeli war against Iran was driven by “corporate profit and control over the country’s oil,” rather than nuclear concerns.

“Trump claims US can 'knock everything out in two days' in Iran 'I didn't underestimate anything,' US president says when asked about Tehran's resilience Merve Gül Aydoğan Ağlarcı 16 May 2026•Update: 16 May 2026 US President Donald Trump said Friday that Washington could rapidly destroy Iranian infrastructure, while insisting he had not underestimated Tehran's resilience in the war”

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Ferner said, “The war was necessary if you understand that the US is an empire and US corporations govern it, influenced by Zionists,” and he argued that “Weapons-making corporations saw it as an opportunity to make billions.”

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Press TV’s account tied the dispute to Oman-mediated nuclear talks in Geneva and to Iran’s repeated assertions that it is not seeking a nuclear weapon, while also referencing a “functioning agreement” from the 2015 nuclear deal that the Trump administration withdrew from.

The same Press TV report also cited that during a 12-day war last June, the United States attacked three key Iranian nuclear facilities, claiming to have “obliterated” them, and Ferner framed the conflict as “regime change – to find someone more like the Shah.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned the U.S. on X that Americans would face rising economic consequences from what Tehran called Washington’s “war of choice,” writing, “Real pain begins when US debt and mortgage rates start to jump.”

In the same reporting, Araghchi said auto loan delinquencies had already reached “a more than 30-year high,” and Al Jazeera reported that he warned Iran remained ready to resume direct military conflict with the United States if negotiations failed.

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera added that a key sticking point in negotiations was the future of the Strait of Hormuz, with Iranian officials insisting any agreement with Washington must grant Tehran sovereignty over the waterway.

Iran’s parliament’s National Security Commission head Ebrahim Azizi said Tehran had “prepared a professional mechanism to manage traffic in the Strait of Hormuz along a designated route,” and he said only commercial vessels and parties cooperating with Iran would benefit while others would be denied access.

As strikes were halted, Israeli opposition leaders attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after U.S. President Donald Trump temporarily halted the fighting with Iran for two weeks, conditioned on the full and immediate opening of the Strait of Hormuz and a mutual ceasefire.

“Jerusalem / Abdul-Rauf Arnaout / Anadolu On Wednesday, opposition leaders in Israel launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the decision by U”

Anadolu Ajansi

An Anadolu Ajansı report quoted Yair Golan saying, “Netanyahu lied; he promised a historic victory and security for generations,” and it added that Golan argued “None of the goals were achieved: the nuclear program was not destroyed.”

The same Anadolu Ajansı account said Netanyahu announced his support for Trump’s decision, stating that Israel “supports the United States’ efforts to ensure that Iran does not become a nuclear, ballistic, or terrorist threat.”

Separately, Press TV quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei saying the U.S. and Israeli regime were fabricating a “grand lie” to justify their illegal “war of choice,” and Baghaei wrote, “They create a desolation and call it peace.”