‘Unprecedented’ US sanctions are pressuring Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says
- Country’s leader calls American officials ‘first class idiots’ in address on Wednesday
US sanctions are putting unprecedented pressure on Iranians while “first class idiots” are running Washington’s policy, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump last year pulled out of an international pact on Iran’s nuclear programme and reimposed sanctions intended to scupper Tehran’s oil exports, curb its missile programme and clip its regional influence.
The measures have hit Iran’s economy hard.
“The sanctions do put pressure on the country and the people,” Khamenei said, according to a transcript on his website of a speech in Tehran to commemorate an event from the 1979 revolution.
“The Americans happily say that these sanctions are unprecedented in history. Yes, they’re unprecedented. And the defeat that the Americans will face will be unprecedented, God willing,” he added.