In a sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran, Seyyed Ahmad Khatami said US President Donald Trump was responsible for the murders of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and nuclear scientist Mohammad Taheranchi, and that he helped create ISIL.
He called claims that the U.S. has friendly relations with the Iranian people a “blatant lie” and said the U.S. has installed a “dark torture regime” in Iran and runs a spy network conspiring against Iran.
Khatami added that from the US perspective, anyone who resists America’s “malice” is branded a terrorist.
He criticized the United States for asserting its right to determine other countries’ nuclear policies, warning that “America’s logic is the logic of military force.”
Friday prayer leaders in Tehran said the 10-year nuclear deal known as the JCPOA had come to an end, stressing that the United States was not a reliable party to the negotiations because it “abandoned the agreement in front of the whole world.”
He added that any negotiations with the United States demonstrate “political stupidity and lack of understanding of America’s deceitful behavior.”
MNA/6632518