While almost everybody has lined up in Iran's leadership to join the war of words with President Donald Trump and respond to his all-caps tweet, the Iran’s Foreign Ministry has found a niche to retaliate against the comments of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made on July 22 in a speech to Iranian-Americans in California.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday, July 24 that following Pompeo's “meddlesome remarks and unfounded claims”, Iran has officially objected to these actions via a letter to the Swiss embassy in Tehran.
The Swiss Embassy has represented U.S. interests in Iran since May 21, 1980.
“Following the interfering [in Iran's internal affairs] remarks and unfounded claims of US Secretary of States Mike Pompeo in an anti-Iranian meeting in California, Iran has officially protested over these via a letter handed to the Swiss embassy in Tehran”, the state-run Mehr news agency (MNA) cited Bahram Ghasemi as saying.
“Voicing Iran’s official objection to US administration, the letter condemns baseless remarks of Pompeo and considers it as an interference in Iran’s internal affairs", Ghasemi added.
Describing the “actions” of US Secretary of State as “violation” of the United Nation’s Charter and bilateral commitments of US, especially of “Algeria Declaration”, Ghasemi said that US should be “accountable” for these “acts”.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on July 22 had blasted Iran’s ruling elite and its religious leaders for using their positions to “line their pockets” while the average person "cries out for jobs, reform, and opportunity."
Pompeo also called Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Islamic religious leaders in the theocratic government "hypocritical holy men" and pointed out officials who had amassed hundreds of millions of dollars of wealth taking advantage of their positions.
He said the accumulation of wealth among leaders and the corruption of the “violent” government indicated that Iran is “something that resembles the mafia more than a government.”
He added that the “regime in Iran has been a nightmare for the Iranian people.”
Pompeo was delivering an address titled “Supporting Iranian Voices” at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in Simi Valley, California.
There are an estimated 250,000 Iranian-Americans in Southern California.
Pompeo vowed that the United States would continue to support the “long-ignored voice of the Iranian people” and would continue to “spotlight the abuses” perpetrated against the country’s citizens by their government.
