Iran’s Khamenei: U.S. Is ‘Source of Instability’ in Mideast

TEL AVIV – Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday accused the U.S. of creating the Islamic State and slammed President Donald Trump for standing side-by-side with the “medieval Saudis.” 

“You and your agents are the source of instability in the Middle East. … Who created Islamic State? America. … America’s claim of fighting against Islamic State is a lie,” Khamenei said during a meeting with government officials.

He also blasted Trump for accusing the Islamic Republic of being a state sponsor of terror, saying, “It is really ridiculous for the U.S., standing next to the tribal and medieval Saudis, to talk about human rights in a place which has no notion of democracy, and to accuse Iran, which is the emblem of democracy.”

“Some of the problems with the U.S. are essentially unresolvable, as the U.S.’s problem with us has nothing to do with nuclear energy or human rights, their problem is with the principle of the Islamic Republic,” he added.

“The U.S. must know that the Islamic Republic will not back down from positions such as battling oppression and defending Palestine and will spare no efforts towards defending the people’s rights.”

Khamenei has accused the U.S. and Saudi Arabia of funding Islamic State terrorists. Last Wednesday, IS carried out its first attack on Iranian soil, killing 17 people. Iranian officials claimed on Saturday to have killed the architect of the attack. So far, 41 people in Tehran have been arrested on suspicion of being affiliated with the terror group. Khamenei said the attacks will only serve to “reinforce hatred for the U.S. government” and Saudi Arabia.

On Sunday, Khamenei said that IS terror attacks outside of the terror group’s domestic borders in the Levant are proof that Western policies in the Middle East have gone awry.

“Today, Daesh [Islamic State] is being pushed out from its birthplace in Iraq and Syria and is moving to other countries — Afghanistan, Pakistan and even the Philippines and European countries,” Khamenei said.

“This is a fire that [Western powers] themselves ignited and now has backfired on them,” he told a gathering of senior Iranian officials in Tehran.