Iran will respond to the growing hostility from President Donald Trump when it celebrates the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution this week, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in his first public comments since the U.S. imposed new sanctions on his nation.
“He says, ‘Be afraid of me,”’ Khamenei said, referring to Trump in a speech to air force commanders and personnel posted on his website on Tuesday. “People will respond to this on the anniversary of the revolution with their presence in the streets, and they will show what stance the population takes in the face of threat.” Iran marks the revolution that led to its Islamic Republic on Feb. 10.
#Trump says be scared of me! No, Iranians will respond to such words with Feb. 10 rallies & will show what is their position toward threats.— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) February 7, 2017
Khamenei’s comments were the latest to rebuke the president without escalating the confrontation, said Dina Esfandiary, a fellow at the Centre for Science and Security Studies at London’s King’s College.
“Rather than mirroring Trump, the supreme leader is adopting an ‘I-told-you-so’ tone to allow Trump’s comments to speak for themselves,” she said. Khamenei, Iran’s ultimate arbiter on all issues of state, had warned that the U.S. remained untrustworthy even as the two nations went on to achieve a breakthrough in ties with the 2015 nuclear deal, “so the U.S. rhetoric plays into” his world view, Esfandiary said.
source: bloomberg
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