Ayatollah Khamenei: US to blame for Afghan sufferings, carnages and recent blasts

Ayatollah Khamenei was speaking on Saturday in a meeting with President Ebrahim Raeisi and his cabinet members. 

The leader said the US occupied Afghanistan for twenty years and oppressed its people in different ways. Ayatollah Khamenei said the US is responsible for all the incidents happening in Afghanistan including Thursday’s bomb blasts and all other carnages there. 

Ayatollah Khamenei added that the Americans themselves also bombed wedding and mourning ceremonies, increased drug production ten-fold and imprisoned some people in the country. 

He noted that the US did not take a single step to construct Afghanistan, saying Afghanistan has not made any progress compared to the past, if it is not more underdeveloped than what it used to be.  

Ayatollah Khamenei reaffirmed Iran’s support for the people of Afghanistan, adding Afghans “have the same religion and language as ours”. 

The leader said governments come and go but people remain and Iran’s relations with any government depend on that government’s relationship with Iran. 

He expressed hope the situation will improve in Afghanistan.

The Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution condemned the US as being shameless regarding the nuclear issue. He said the US withdrew from the nuclear deal before the eyes of the world and now they are speaking in such a way as if it was Iran that left the agreement.

The leader said Europeans were no better than the US in terms of hampering [the deal] and bad behavior. Ayatollah Khamenei also noted that the current US administration is no different than the previous one. He reiterated the US officials are “wild and predator wolves” when it comes to diplomacy, saying no one should be deceived by their smiles.

Ayatollah Khamenei also urged the new Iranian administration not to tie economic problems to sanctions and make plans to resolve the problems.

He said Iran must expand trade with 15 neighbors and many other countries of the world except a couple of them.

He stressed that diplomacy must not be tied to the nuclear issue either because the nuclear case is different and must be resolved appropriately.

Iran’s leader then turned to the Coronavirus pandemic, describing it as an urgent issue that must be addressed because it affects people’s health. While praising efforts by the previous administration to fight Covid including vaccine imports, Ayatollah Khamenei said treatment, prevention, screening and public vaccination as highly important.