TEHRAN – Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that the United States “must and will leave” the region, following a visit to Gulf Arab states by President Donald Trump.
The remarks from the Iranian supreme leader come a day after Trump concluded a high-profile Gulf tour aimed at strengthening alliances and securing multi-trillion dollar investments.
On his tour, Trump condemned Iran’s leadership for its role in the region and threatened to cut Iran’s oil exports to zero.
“Iran’s leaders have focused on stealing their people’s wealth to fund terror and bloodshed abroad,” Trump told a Saudi investment forum on Tuesday.
Without referring to specific comments, Khamenei said some of Trump’s remarks are “source of shame” and “not even worth responding to”.
“The level of those comments is so low that they are a source of shame for the speaker himself and a cause for embarrassment for the American people.”
He further accused Trump of lying about using American power to establish peace in war-ravaged Gaza.
“Trump claimed he wants to use power to achieve peace, he lied,” Khamenei said. “He and the American officials, and American administrations, have used power to support the massacre in Gaza, to ignite wars wherever they could, and to back their own mercenaries.”
Khamenei also criticised Trump for perpetuating a model for the Gulf Arab states that kept them dependent on the United States.
“The president of America proposed a model to these Arab countries, a model which according to his own words, implies that without the United States, these countries would not be able to last for even 10 days.
“Even now, through their dealings, their behaviour, and their proposals, the Americans continue to promote and impose this very same model, a model designed to make these countries dependent, so they cannot exist without US support,” Khamenei said.
“This model is undoubtedly a failed one”. – AFP
