Ayatollah calls Trump a ‘clown’ who pretends to support people of Iran

Iran’s supreme leader said US President Donald Trump is a «clown» who only pretends to support the Iranian people but will «push a poisonous dagger» into their backs during his first Friday sermon in Tehran in eight years. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the mass funerals for Iran’s top general, who was killed in a US airstrike earlier this month, show that the Iranian people support the Islamic Republic despite its recent trials.

He said the «cowardly» killing of Qasem Soleimani had taken out the most effective commander in the battle against Isil.

In response, Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting US troops in Iraq, without causing serious injuries. Mr Khamenei said the strike had dealt a «blow to America’s image» as a superpower. In part of the sermon delivered in Arabic, he said the «real punishment» would be in forcing the US to withdraw from the Middle East.

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As Iran’s Revolutionary Guard braced for an American counterattack that never came, it mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian jetliner shortly after it took off from Tehran’s international airport, killing all 176 passengers on board, mostly Iranians.

Authorities concealed their role in the tragedy for three days, initially blaming the crash on a technical problem. Their admission of responsibility triggered days of street protests, which security forces dispersed with live ammunition and tear gas.

Mr Khamenei called the shooting down of the plane a «bitter accident» that saddened Iran as much as it made its enemies happy. He said Iran’s enemies had seized on the crash to question the Islamic Republic, the Revolutionary Guard and the armed forces.

He also lashed out at Western countries, saying they are too weak to «bring Iranians to their knees». He said Britain, France and Germany, which this week triggered a dispute mechanism to try to bring Iran back into compliance with the unravelling 2015 nuclear agreement, were «contemptible» governments and «servants» of the US.

He said Iran was willing to negotiate, but not with the US.

Mr Khamenei has held the country’s top office since 1989 and has the final say on all major decisions. The 80-year-old leader openly wept at the funeral of Mr Soleimani and vowed «harsh retaliation» against the US. Thousands of people attended the Friday prayers, occasionally interrupting his speech by chanting «God is greatest!» and «Death to America!»

Tensions between Iran and the US have steadily escalated since President Donald Trump withdrew the US from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which had imposed restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.