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(TEHRAN, Iran) — Iran’s supreme leader mentioned President Donald Trump is a “clown” who simplest pretends to toughen the Iranian other folk, as he addressed Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time since 2012.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Trump will “push a toxic dagger” into the nation’s encourage. He mentioned the outpouring of anxiousness at the funeral for Iran’s top overall, who turned into killed in a U.S. airstrike earlier this month, shows that Iranians toughen the Islamic Republic.
Khamenei mentioned The US had “cowardly” killed the real commander in the fight towards the Islamic Express community when it killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad.
In response, Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles focusing on U.S. troops in Iraq, with out inflicting serious injuries. As Iran’s Modern Guard braced for an American counterattack that by no methodology came, it mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian jetliner shortly after it took off from Tehran’s world airport, killing all 176 passengers on board, mostly Iranians.
Khamenei known as the shootdown of the airplane a “bitter accident” that saddened Iran as powerful because it made its enemies cheerful. He mentioned Iran’s enemies had seized on the fracture to construct a query to the Islamic Republic, the Modern Guard and the navy.
He mentioned Western countries are too faded to “raise Iranians to their knees.” Khamenei mentioned Iran turned into willing to barter, however now not with the U.S.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has held the country’s top workplace since 1989 and has the closing disclose on all significant choices. The 80-twelve months-accepted leader openly wept at the funeral of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and vowed “harsh retaliation” towards america.
Authorities concealed their role in the tragedy for 3 days, in the starting up blaming the fracture on a technical disaster. Their admission of responsibilityintroduced on days of motorway protests, which security forces dispersed with dwell ammunition and roam gasoline.
Tensions between Iran and america possess continuously escalated since President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from Iran’s 2015 nuclear take care of world powers, which had imposed restrictions on its nuclear program in change for the lifting of world sanctions.
The White Residence has since imposed crippling sanctions on Iran, including its obligatory oil and gasoline industry, pushing the country into an economic crisis that has ignited a total lot of waves of sporadic, leaderless protests. Trump has openly inspired the protesters — even tweeting in Farsi — hoping that the protests and the sanctions will raise about significant change in a longtime adversary.
After Soleimani turned into killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, Iran announced it could perchance presumably perchance no longer ensure by the constraints in the nuclear settlement. European countries who possess been looking to salvage the deal responded earlier this week byinvoking a dispute mechanismthat’s aimed at bringing Iran encourage into compliance and would possibly presumably perchance result in even more sanctions.
Khamenei turned into constantly skeptical of the nuclear settlement, arguing that america would possibly presumably perchance now not be depended on. Nonetheless he allowed President Hassan Rouhani, a relative practical, to total the settlement with President Barack Obama. Since Trump’s withdrawal, he has mentioned there would possibly presumably perchance be no negotiations with america.
Khamenei closing delivered a Friday sermon in February 2012, when he known as Israel a “cancerous tumor” and vowed to toughen anybody confronting it. He additionally warned towards any U.S. strikes on Iran over its nuclear program, announcing the U.S. would be damaged “10 times over.”
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