Foreign Minister Zarif slams Trump's 'absurd insults' against Iranian govt.

Rasa - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has condemned "absurd insults" made by US President Donald Trump against the Islamic Republic in his annual message on the occasion of the Iranian new Year.

News ID: 436935

Date: 20 March 2018 - 23:36

RNA - "With millennia of civilization, Iranians have the historical depth to ignore the absurd insults of an arriviste leader; one whose entire command of history, politics and diplomacy can be condensed into 280 characters - but even so, still superior to his juvenile royal stooge," Zarif tweeted on Tuesday.

Trump used the annual presidential statement marking the Persian holiday of Nowruz to criticize Iranian officials, calling them "rulers who serve themselves instead of serving the people."

The US president accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of engaging in corruption and mismanagement of the Iranian economy.

Washington has adopted a much more belligerent stance against the Islamic Republic since Trump took office in January 2017.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw the US from Iran's 2015 nuclear agreement with the world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). He says the US seeks a revision of the deal and modifications to it, including the conclusion of Iran’s missile program to the agreement, otherwise Washington will scrap the deal.

Iranian officials have rejected the idea of making revisions to the deal, saying the US is in no position to alter or modify the JCPOA, which is backed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 and is an international document.

Although Washington has been accusing Tehran of not fulfilling its commitments under the deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has in several reports verified Iran’s commitment to the deal.

Under the US pressure, certain European countries, especially France, have recently raised claims about what they allege to be Iran's destabilizing role in the region and also urged for a halt to the Islamic Republic’s missile program. Iran has dismissed such accusations and calls.

According to Press TV, in October 2017, the US Treasury Department added the IRGC to its anti-terrorism sanctions list, claiming in a statement that the elite military force is “providing support to a number of terrorist groups, including Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as to the Taliban."

The statement said the force has "played a central role to Iran becoming the world's foremost state sponsor of terror."

In response, the IRGC announced that it would treat US troops in the region like Daesh Takfiri terrorists if Trump designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

IRGC advisers say they are currently assisting the Iraqi and Syrian forces in their anti-terrorism campaign against terrorist groups wreaking havoc in both countries.

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