Earlier in the day, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, while leading Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time since 2012, noted that the assassination of top IRGC General Qasem Soleimani revealed the “terrorist nature” of the US, and also observed that Trump is a “clown”.
US President Donald Trump responded to Khamenei’s speech, tweeting that the Iranian economy “is crashing, and their people are suffering”, while urging the top leader to “be very careful with his words!”.
The US president called the Iranian Supreme Leader as “not so Supreme”, describing the sections of Khamenei’s Friday speech that dealt with the US and Europe as “nasty things”.
The so-called “Supreme Leader” of Iran, who has not been so Supreme lately, had some nasty things to say about the United States and Europe. Their economy is crashing, and their people are suffering. He should be very careful with his words!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2020
In his Friday’s speech, Khamenei described the Trump administration as “clowns”, slammed Israel, mourned one more time Soleimani, while extolling combat and human features of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, and commendably recalled a revenge for the assassination – a missile attack of two Iraqi military bases that host US forces.
The first week of January saw a drastic spike in tensions between the US and Iran when US President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of Iran’s elite Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani. Iran retaliated by striking US bases in Iraq.
The US Central Command said that 11 soldiers were injured in Iran’s retaliation strike. The statement went in contrast with previous announcements that Iranian strikes did not result in any casualties or injuries.
Following the assassination of Soleimani and several senior members from Iraqi militia in Baghdad, Iraqi lawmakers voted to completely expel US-led coalition forces from the country.
American officials have repeatedly ruled out a complete pullback from Iraq. White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien last week said the United States would leave on its “own terms”.
DETAILS TO FOLLOW
Content retrieved from: https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202001181078065579-trump-warns-irans-ayatollah-khamenei-to-be-careful-with-his-words/.