TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran on Saturday blamed what it called Donald Trump's "arbitrary and conflicting policies" for global security threats, rejecting the U.S. president's description of Tehran as a rogue state.
Tensions between Iran and the United States have heightened since the election of Trump, who has often singled out Tehran for supporting anti-Zionist resistance movements.
"(Trump) ought to seek the reason for subversion and rebellion in his own arbitrary and conflicting policies and actions, as well as those of his arrogant, aggressive and occupying allies in the region," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi, quoted by state news agency IRNA.
President Trump said on Thursday that new threats were emerging from "rogue regimes like North Korea, Iran and Syria and the governments that finance and support them".
Senior Iranian officials have blamed U.S-allied Saudi Arabia for instability and attacks in the Middle East, including last month's assaults that killed 18 people in Tehran.
While Trump has kept up his criticism of Tehran, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday that the president was "very likely" to state that Iran is adhering to its nuclear agreement with world powers although he continues to have reservations about it.
Qassemi said the new U.S. statesmen must "learn the lessons from the past and only speak to the Iranian nation with the language of respect.”
He said the U.S. president’s advisors look stuck in the past and are unaware of the realities on the ground, saying they are too far behind the developments in Iran, the region and the world.
He advised the Trump administration to take into consideration Iran’s positive, constructive and stabilizing role in the region and across the globe.