Tehran [Iran], May 18: Iran's political and military leaders are pointing the finger back at Donald Trump after the United States president sharpened his rhetoric during his first major tour of the Middle East.
In a speech to a group of teachers gathered for a state ceremony in Tehran on Saturday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said some of Trump's comments were not even worth responding to. "The level of those remarks is so low that they are a disgrace for the one who uttered them and a disgrace to the American nation," he said, to chants of "Death to America" and others from the crowd.
Khamenei added that Trump "lied" when he said he wants to use power towards peace, as Washington has backed "massacring" Palestinians and others across the region. He called Israel a "dangerous cancerous tumour" that must be "uprooted".
Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also told a gathering of navy officers on Saturday that Trump is extending a message of peace while threatening destruction at the same time as backing Israel's "genocide" in the Gaza Strip.
"Which one of this president's words should we believe? His message of peace, or his message of massacre of human beings?" the Iranian president said, pointing out that Trump sanctioned the International Criminal Court (ICC) in a move that was internationally criticised.
The statements came after Trump used his Middle East tour - during which he signed huge deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates - to heap praise on Arab leaders neighbouring Iran and blasting the leadership in Tehran.
The US president told Arab leaders they were developing their infrastructure while Iran's "landmarks are collapsing into rubble" after its theocratic establishment replaced a monarchy in a 1979 revolution. He said Iran's leaders have "managed to turn green farmland into dry deserts" as a result of corruption and mismanagement, and pointed out that Iranians are experiencing power outages several hours a day.
The blackouts, a result of a years-long energy crisis that is hurting Iran's already strained economy, are expected to linger for the rest of this year as well, according to Iranian authorities.
The largest associations of the mining, steel and cement industries in Iran on Saturday wrote a joint letter to Pezeshkian, urgently requesting him to review a 90 percent electricity use restriction imposed on the critical sectors.
Trump, who hailed Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and lifted sanctions on Damascus, also took aim at Iran's regional policy. (Agencies)
Source: Qatar Tribune
