TEHRAN -- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday reacted to President Donald Trump’s remarks about Iran in Riyadh, calling them “pure deception.”
“I heard the U.S. President’s statement last night; unfortunately a deceptive view was put forward,” Araghchi told reporters after cabinet meeting in Tehran Wednesday.
Speaking in Riyadh Tuesday, Trump contrasted Iran’s economic situation under the sanctions with that of Saudi Arabia which he claimed “has turned dry deserts into fertile farmland”. He offered Tehran “a new path, and a much better path, toward a far better and more hopeful future.”
Araghchi said what Trump “stated about the desire of the countries of the region to enjoy a path of progress and prosperity is, in fact, the same path that the Iranian people chose with their revolution and took it to have an independent, democratic, free, prosperous, and advanced country”.
“It is the U.S. that has prevented the progress of the Iranian nation through its own sanctions over the past forty-odd years, with its own pressures, and with military and civilian threats.
“The one responsible for the economic problems is the U.S. and the arrogant policies it has imposed on the Iranian people, demanding a dependent and obedient system, which is in contradiction to the dignity of the Iranian people,” he added.
Araghchi touched on Trump’s renewed threat “to inflict massive maximum pressure” on Iran and portraying it as a “source of insecurity” in the address to the Saudi-American investment forum in Riyadh. 
“The U.S. President has ignored all of Israel’s crimes in the region and is seeking to portray Iran as a threat; this is pure deception and a reversal of the source of threats,” he said.
“Which regime has killed 60,000 people in Gaza? Who has caused this much destruction in Gaza? Which regime attacks the areas surrounding Palestine, including Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen? The extent of the occupation carried out by the Zionist regime in Syria in recent months is greater than the entire area of Gaza,” Araghchi said.
“The Zionist regime has placed a nation in Gaza under economic siege; all these issues are ignored, and at the same time, they try to portray Iran as a threat to the region so that the main menace is forgotten, but they will not succeed in this path either.”
Parliament speaker Muhammad Bagher Ghalibaf also dismissed Trump’s remarks in an address to the 19th Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC) conference in Jakarta.
Ghalibaf reminded of hostile U.S. actions against Iran, including the 1953 coup, support for Saddam Hussein during the Iraqi war on Iran in the 1980s, the downing of an Iranian passenger plane, and the assassination of Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Despite sanctions and maximum pressure, Ghalibaf said, Iran has grown stronger and expanded the influence of its resistance message, even reaching U.S. university campuses, forcing them to expel students and cut academic funding.
During his first term in office, Trump withdrew the United States from a previous agreement on Iran’s nuclear program and launched a so-called maximum pressure campaign against the country.
Trump restored that policy after returning to the White House for a second term in January, but he has since signaled a willingness to make a new deal to replace the 2015 deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
On March 12, Trump sent a letter to Iran’s leadership, asking for negotiations to reach a new deal and threatening military action if Tehran refused. Iran has ruled out direct negotiations with the U.S. under pressure and threats, but said indirect talks remain an option.
Mediated by Oman, Iran and the U.S. have held four rounds of talks in Muscat and the Italian capital of Rome on April 12, 19, 26 and May 11.