Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei mocked the United States on Friday, following the mob invasion of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
In a 50-minute televised speech, Khamenei said: “This is their democracy; this is their elections’ situation.”
In a tweet, also on Friday, the Iranian leader posted, “The US openly says its interests require instability in this region. The US wanted to start a civil war in Iran in 2009, & now God has afflicted them with the same predicament in 2021. The recent chaos reached a point where Congress members had to escape through secret tunnels.”
The US openly says its interests require instability in this region. The US wanted to start a civil war in #Iran in 2009, & now God has afflicted them with the same predicament in 2021. The recent chaos reached a point where #Congress members had to escape through secret tunnels.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) January 8, 2021
In his speech, Khamenei also said that Iran is in no rush to see the United States rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. The United States withdrew from it in May 2018, reimposing sanctions lifted under it, along with enacting new sanctions as part of what the Trump administration has called a “maximum pressure” campaign.
“We are in no rush, and we are not insisting on their return,” he said. “Our demand, which is both logical and rational, is the lifting of sanction.”
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has said the United States would return to the JCPOA if Iran returns to compliance, followed by further negotiations addressing additional issues such as the regime’s ballistic-missile program.