“Iranians—including our Jewish compatriots—are commemorating 40 years of progress despite US pressure, just as [Donald Trump] again makes accusations against us,” said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, pointing to the ten-day celebrations in Iran on the 40th anniversary of the victory of the 1979 Revolution.
“US hostility has led it to support dictators, butchers and extremists, who’ve only brought ruin to our region,” he said.
In his address, Trump sought to justify his administration’s hardened line against Iran, saying he “has acted decisively to confront the world’s leading state sponsor of terror: the radical regime in Iran.”
“We will not avert our eyes from a regime that chants Death to America and threatens genocide against the Jewish People,” he said.
Trump also said the US had pulled out of the “disastrous” nuclear deal “to ensure this corrupt dictatorship never acquires nuclear weapons.”