While Iranian state-run media are lambasting the U.S. over the killing of George Floyd killing and the resulting civil unrest, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic Ali Khamenei has limited his reaction to two tweets and brief comments in a speech.
"The fact that a policeman has cold-bloodedly pressed his knee on the throat of a black man until he died and that other policemen watched on without doing anything is nothing new," Khamenei said in a televised speech on Wednesday, June 3 marking the 31st anniversary of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini death.
"The crime committed against this black man is the same thing the US govt has been doing against all the world. They have done the same in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Vietnam, & many other countries. This is the US govt’s nature & character that is being exposed today." Khamenei maintained.
Meanwhile, in a series of tweets, Khamenei claimed that the United States today is experiencing what the USSR faced at the time of its collapse.
Referring to his predecessor, the founder of the Islamic Republic, Khamenei tweeted, "Imam Khomeini caused the US leaders at that time to admit that Khomeini had humiliated them. #ImamKhomeini proved that superpowers can be broken and beaten."
Khamenei, who has never criticized the Islamic Republic security forces and intelligence agents for brutally killing hundreds of protesters, has not missed the chance to blast the U.S. government for its reaction to the recent unrest. Reuters reported in December that Khamenei personally authorized the use of lethal force against protesters in mid-November.
"In dealing with its people, the US govt has behaved in the worst manner. The people of the United States have every right to feel embarrassed and ashamed by their govts, particularly the current govt", Khamenei said in one of his tweets.
During his televised speech, Khamenei also said, "These (recent developments in the U.S.) are realities that have always been camouflaged or hidden, but they are not new".