Top Iranian political and military figures have issued strong rebukes to US president Donald Trump following a series of scathing remarks he made against Tehran’s leadership during his recent tour of the Middle East.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an address at a teachers’ ceremony in Tehran on Saturday, dismissed Trump’s statements as “not worth responding to,” but said they reflected poorly on both the former US president and the American people.
“The level of those remarks is so low that they are a disgrace for the one who uttered them and a disgrace to the American nation,” Khamenei said, as crowds chanted “Death to America” during the state-organised event.
Trump, who visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates as part of his tour, used the occasion to laud the development efforts of Iran’s Arab neighbours while accusing Tehran’s theocratic leadership of corruption and economic mismanagement.
He claimed Iran had turned fertile farmland into “dry deserts” and criticised the country's ongoing electricity crisis.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, addressing navy officers on the same day, condemned Trump’s statements as hypocritical, accusing him of promoting peace in words while supporting conflict and Israeli actions in Gaza.
“Which one of this president’s words should we believe? His message of peace, or his message of massacre of human beings?” Pezeshkian asked, highlighting US backing for Israel’s actions in Gaza and Trump’s past sanctions on the International Criminal Court.
In a rare public response, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described Trump’s claims as “deceptive” and accused Washington of fuelling regional instability through sanctions, military threats, and continued support for Israel.
The US president also sparked outrage in Tehran by praising interim Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa while denouncing Iran’s longstanding support for the ousted Bashar al-Assad government, blaming Tehran for regional “misery and death.”
Reacting to Trump's regional commentary, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaking at an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) conference in Indonesia, said the former US president was “living in a delusion,” while IRGC commander Hossein Salami pointed to Iran’s cultural and religious identity as a source of national pride.
Tensions further escalated after Trump hinted he may begin referring to the “Persian Gulf” as the “Arabian Gulf,” a move widely viewed in Iran as provocative and historically inaccurate.
Uncertainty over nuclear deal
Despite the rhetorical clashes, both Washington and Tehran have expressed conditional willingness to revive negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme. Yet the path forward remains fraught with challenges.
After four rounds of talks mediated by Oman, a framework that could see sanctions eased in return for Iran’s commitment to peaceful nuclear enrichment has yet to materialise. Trump claimed a proposal had been submitted to Tehran, but Araghchi refuted the claim, citing “confusing and contradictory” signals from the US side.
“There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to enrichment for peaceful purposes,” Araghchi said on X, invoking Iran’s rights under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Kazem Gharibabadi, a senior nuclear negotiator, also rejected reports that Iran might suspend uranium enrichment during the remainder of Trump’s potential presidency.
“The right to enrich is our absolute red line! No halt to enrichment is acceptable,” he told local media.
Trump had unilaterally pulled out of the 2015 nuclear accord in 2018, reinstating sweeping sanctions on Iran that continue to impact its economy and complicate ongoing talks.
