Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Baghaei says Europe cannot claim strategic autonomy while following Washington's orders, stressing that true autonomy means making independent decisions

Rhetoric of this kind from an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson is routine positioning rather than a policy signal, and episodes of this kind have historically moved nothing beyond the headline itself. The audience is European capitals, and the message fits a longstanding Iranian pattern of trying to drive wedges between Europe and Washington whenever sanctions, nuclear diplomacy, or regional escalation is live, a playbook that has rarely altered European alignment in practice. The distinction worth drawing is between commentary aimed at EU governments, which tends to be cheap talk, and anything touching the mechanisms that actually transmit to markets: sanctions enforcement, the nuclear track, and Gulf shipping where freight and insurance reprice first. Spokesperson-level remarks carry low information content compared with statements from the foreign minister, the Supreme Leader's office, or the IRGC, which have been the tiers where tone shifts have preceded actual policy movement. The follow-ons worth noting are whether European officials respond formally and whether the timing coincides with any active diplomatic or sanctions development. Absent that context, this reads as standard press-conference positioning.