After Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei accused the United Arab Emirates of "betraying" Muslims, Arab nations and Palestine by establishing diplomatic ties with Israel, the United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted on Tuesday that the world should "reject and condemn" Khamenei's "ideology of hatred."
'The children of Abraham - Muslims, Christians, and Jews - rejoice at the prospect of peace, while Khamenei calls for more violence," Pompeo added. "The U.S. stands with the UAE and all those seeking a brighter future."
In a U.S-brokered deal on August 29, the UAE formally ended its boycott of Israel and normalized its relations with the Jewish state, with and direct flights now established between the two countries.
On Tuesday, Khamenei publicly reacted to the deal for the first time, writing that the UAE has "opened the door of the region to the Zionists," but its betrayal of its Muslim and Arab neighbors "won't last long." Khamenei has long vowed that Israel, Iran's archenemy among other world powers, "will be annihilated".
In an additional tweet directed at Khamenei, Pompeo cited Iran's silence towards China's systematic violence against its Uyghur Muslims, writing, "And if you’re looking for those betraying Islam, China is seeking to destroy the Uyghurs. Looking forward to your public callout for the CCP’s horrific treatment of those Muslims."
Ali Motahari, an outspoken Iranian lawmaker, claimed on August 5 that the Iranian government has continued to ignore China's suppression of its Muslim population, mainly ethnic Uyghurs, because of the country's economic dependence on China, with Motahari citing a conversation with a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official.
Hardliners, however, responded that Uyghurs, who they claimed were "Wahabi Takfiris" – a hardline brand of Saudi-backed Islam – could become a problem for Iran, due to the threat ot ISIS spreading through the nation. As a result, they claimed, the Chinese government was actually serving Islam, which in their view is Shiism, the official sect of Islam in of Iran.