WANA (Jun 26) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman has criticized the food insecurity situation in the United States, saying that millions of Americans continue to struggle with hunger while accusing the U.S. government of addressing the issue by halting the publication of official data.

 

In a post on X on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said that the United States “is itself in dire need of charity to solve its hunger problem.”

 

Citing a report by the World Hunger Education Service, Baghaei said that more than 47 million people in the United States—including one in five children—lack reliable access to enough food to maintain a healthy life. He added that the number of Americans experiencing food insecurity has increased by 4.2 million since 2020.

 

Baghaei also referred to data from Feeding America, saying that 47 million Americans face food insecurity and deal with the daily health and social consequences of hunger.

 

The spokesman further claimed that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) quietly stopped producing its annual food insecurity report in September 2024 after publishing it continuously for three decades.

 

Ending his remarks with a note of sarcasm, Baghaei said that, judging by the suspension of those reports, “the hunger problem in America has apparently been solved for nearly two years”—a comment intended to criticize what he described as Washington’s approach to the issue.