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May 11, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 2
Iran's supreme leader
to Trump: “Like hell,
you will!”
behalf of the Iranian people: Mr Trump! Like hell, you will!”
Many Iranians are taken aback when Trump claims, as he did in his May 8 White House announcement, that Iran supports terrorist groups including Islamic State and Al Qaeda. The two groups subscribe to Sunni Islam and have called for the death of all Shi’ite Muslims
– 90% of Iran’s population are Shi’ite. Iran also claims to have been more responsible than any other nation for military breakthroughs that have almost cleared Islamic State from Syria and Iraq, and in June last year suffered twin Islamic State terrorist attacks in Tehran that left 13 dead.
"This man will turn to dust"
Heaping further scorn on Trump, Khamenei continued: “[Trump] made some silly and superficial comments... This man will turn to dust and his body will become food for worms and ants. And the Islamic Republic will still be standing.”
Trump’s move to abandon the nuclear accord
has placed Iran’s centrist, pragmatic President Hassan Rouhani under pressure as hardliners, who have always objected to him negotiating
the nuclear deal with the “untrustworthy” US
and five other major powers in the first place,
see it as a vindication that could open the way
to them reassuming control of the government. Rouhani’s dilemma - which now includes more bad economic news with the Iranian rial down to an all-time low of 75,000 to the dollar on the black market on May 9 - spurred thousands of Iranians
to go online to support his administration. Some even posted videos teasing Trump. In one video, a child is seen saying in English: “Are you a comedian, because you talk like a comedian.”
The insults hurled at Trump also included one
in the Iranian parliament where the Speaker,
Ali Larijani, told assembled lawmakers: “Trump does not have the mental capacity to deal with
the issues.” During the parliamentary session, MPs set a paper US flag and the text of the nuclear accord on fire, while shouting, "Death to America!" as Larijani stated that responsibility for saving the deal would now fall on the EU and the other non- European world powers still in the accord, namely Russia and China. France has said the nuclear deal is “not dead” despite the US withdrawal.
In his address, the 78-year-old Khamenei added: “We accepted the JCPOA [the nuclear deal, formally named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action], but the enmity against the Islamic Republic did not cease. Now they are talking about our presence and influence in the region and the country’s mis- sile programme [as things we have to negotiate for a reworked nuclear deal]. If we accept their terms on these two issues, the problem will not be solved, but rather they will find something else [to accuse us of].”
The JCPOA was drawn up to bar Iran’s path to the development of a nuclear weapon in return for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions at the start of 2016. Tehran signed the document even though it insists its nuclear development programme
has always been entirely aimed at civilian objectives, something hotly contested by Israel.
Nuclear concern 'simply a ruse
In his remarks, Khamenei said it was clear that the raising of the issue of Iran’s nuclear pro- gramme by the US had always simply been a ruse