Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on May 9 rebuked US President Donald Trump for making threats against Iran while announcing that he was pulling the US out of the nuclear deal and reimposing the heaviest sanctions on the Islamic Republic, Mehr News Agency reported on May 9.

“You all heard last night the cheap and impudent remarks of the US president,” Khamenei told university professors and students in an address in Tehran on May 9. “There were maybe more than 10 lies in what he said. He threatened both the establishment and the Iranian nation that he will do this and do that, and I will tell him on behalf of the Iranian people: Mr Trump! Like hell, you will!”

Many Iranians are taken aback when Trump claims, as he did in his May 8 White House announcement, that Iran supports terrorist groups including Islamic State and Al Qaeda. The two groups subscribe to Sunni Islam and have called for the death of all Shi’ite Muslims—90% of Iran’s population are Shi’ite. Iran also claims to have been more responsible than any other nation for military breakthroughs that have almost cleared Islamic State from Syria and Iraq, and in June last year suffered twin Islamic State terrorist attacks in Tehran that left 13 dead.

"This man will turn to dust"
Heaping further scorn on Trump, Khamenei continued: “[Trump] made some silly and superficial comments… This man will turn to dust and his body will become food for worms and ants. And the Islamic Republic will still be standing.”

Trump’s move to abandon the nuclear accord has placed Iran’s centrist, pragmatic President Hassan Rouhani under pressure as hardliners, who have always objected to him negotiating the nuclear deal with the “untrustworthy” US and five other major powers in the first place, see it as a vindication that could open the way to them reassuming control of the government. Rouhani’s dilemma - which now includes more bad economic news with the Iranian rial down to an all-time low of 75,000 to the dollar on the black market on May 9 - spurred thousands of Iranians to go online to support his administration. Some even posted videos teasing Trump. In one video, a child is seen saying in English: “Are you a comedian, because you talk like a comedian.”

The insults hurled at Trump also included one in the Iranian parliament where the Speaker, Ali Larijani, told assembled lawmakers: “Trump does not have the mental capacity to deal with the issues.” During the parliamentary session, MPs set a paper US flag and the text of the nuclear accord on fire, while shouting, "Death to America!" as Larijani stated that responsibility for saving the deal would now fall on the EU and the other non-European world powers still in the accord, namely Russia and China. France has said the nuclear deal is “not dead” despite the US withdrawal.

In his address, the 78-year-old Khamenei added: “We accepted the JCPOA [the nuclear deal, formally named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action], but the enmity against the Islamic Republic did not cease. Now they are talking about our presence and influence in the region and the country’s missile programme [as things we have to negotiate for a reworked nuclear deal]. If we accept their terms on these two issues, the problem will not be solved, but rather they will find something else [to accuse us of].”

The JCPOA was drawn up to bar Iran’s path to the development of a nuclear weapon in return for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions at the start of 2016. Tehran signed the document even though it insists its nuclear development programme has always been entirely aimed at civilian objectives, something hotly contested by Israel.

Nuclear concern 'simply a ruse
In his remarks, Khamenei said it was clear that the raising of the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme by the US had always simply been a ruse to curb Iran’s role in the Middle East. He added that the programme had to be preserved because “Iran is in dire need of nuclear energy, and in a few years, according to experts, the country will require 20,000 megawatts of nuclear power”.

Additional comments posted to Khamenei's website on May 9 showed the supreme leader is clearly dubious about France, Germany and the UK’s efforts to salvage the JCPOA for use without US participation. “If you can’t get a definite guarantee [on what they are offering], then the nuclear deal cannot be continued,” he said, noting that "I even don't trust these countries."