TEHRAN -- President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday said the Iranian nation will not stand idly by in the face of hostile U.S. acts.
Raisi told Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said over phone that U.S. support for riots in Iran and its efforts to inflame them were miscalculated.
The president said the Americans had to resort to stirring sedition in Iran when they saw that their sanctions on the Islamic Republic not only did not stop the Iranian nation, but led to its progress.
Raisi touched on the highest level of trust and cooperation between Iran and Oman, saying the two countries have growing relations in various fields.
He voiced Iran’s determination to strengthen ties with Oman in various sectors and expressed hope that Tehran and Muscat would continue to boost interaction as in the past year.
The Omani Sultan, for his part, said he would personally follow up the implementation of the agreements reached between the two countries.
He said both nations are benefiting from developing relations.
On Sunday, President Raisi strongly condemned U.S. support for the recent riots in Iran, saying America’s hands are evident in most acts of sabotage, assassinations and riots in the region.
“The remarks by the U.S. president who allows himself to fan the flames of unrest, assassination and destruction in another country, remind us of everlasting words of the founder of the Islamic Republic who called the United States ‘the Great Satan’,” Raisi said.
“The enemy’s plot must be countered by effective measures to resolve people’s problems,” Raisi said, according to a statement from the president’s office.
President Joe Biden has said he was “stunned” by how Iranians had reacted to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who collapsed at a police station and later died at hospital.
Iranians have held protests over the passing of Amini. However, rioters have taken advantage of the protests to incite violence against security forces, which has been encouraged by Western media outlets.
“When the root causes of most acts of sabotage, assassinations and riots in the region are examined, the role and mischief of America could be easily detected,” President Raisi said.
“Some 70 years of support for the crimes of the Zionist regime in Palestine and also two decades of American invasion and warmongering in Afghanistan are examples of the Great Satan’s measures,” he said.
“The Americans resent any good, innovative and creative move by the Iranian nation and revel in their shortcomings or problems as well as the lack of security,” he added.
The president said “the insightful nation of Iran is well aware of the enemy and its machinations and this time around it will again prevent the enemy from achieving its goals and will continue on the path to growth and progress”.
On Sunday, Iran’s foreign ministry vehemently censured the United States over meddling in the country’s internal affairs over Biden’s statements.
“On Saturday, Biden interfered for the umpteenth time in Iran’s state matters by supporting the riots as he has done ever since the outbreak of recent developments in Iran,” ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani, said in a statement.
“Given that he enjoys neither trusted advisers nor a good memory, I remind Biden that Iran is too strong and steadfast to be swayed by his cruel sanctions and idle threats. It is also too proud to be unfazed by the interventions and exclamations of a politician tired of years of a futile campaign against Iran.”
President Raisi touched on the United States’ history of starting unrest in the past, saying because of “the failure of America in militarization and sanctions, Washington and its allies have resorted to the failed policy of destabilization”.