Khamenei blames US for ‘sensitive time’ for people of Iran

Iran’s supreme leader says his country faces a “sensitive” time ahead due to pressure exerted by the Trump administration and economic problems resulting from U.S. sanctions.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday on state television that Tehran will “defeat” the sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department in the wake of the U.S.’s withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran, Reuters reported, but warned his country that economic struggles could be on the horizon. 

{mosads}“The situation of the nation, region and world is sensitive, especially for us the people of Iran,” Khamenei said, according to the news service.

“Sensitive in this respect that on one hand we have the shouting of the arrogant powers and politicians of imperialist America…on another hand the economic problems of the nation and the tightness of the livelihood of a large portion of the weak people in the country,” he said.

“[But] with the kindness of God we will defeat sanctions and the defeat of sanctions is the defeat of America,” the supreme leader added. “And America must receive another slap from the people of Iran with the defeat of sanctions.”

His remarks follow comments from a top U.S. official who said at a press conference in Geneva that the Trump administration’s goal is to shut down Iranian operations in war-torn Syria via massive economic pressure.

“We want to see Iran no longer operating in Syria … And we will continue to tighten sanctions on Iran – you will be seeing some new steps in November, and we’ll go from there,” said Robert Wood, the U.S. ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, according to Reuters.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has dueled with Iranian officials in recent weeks over Tehran’s accusations that the U.S. and Israel were involved in a deadly terrorist attack on a military parade in the country in September.

“When you have a security incident at home, blaming others is an enormous mistake,” Pompeo said last month.

On Wednesday, Pompeo announced that the U.S. would withdraw from a decades-old treaty with Iran after Iranian officials argued that recent sanctions violated the treaty.