AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abbas Mousavi took a swipe at US President Donald Trump for “dishonoring” the Persian language, saying a regime that has assassinated the Iranian nation’s hero has no right to voice support for Iranians in Persian.
Hands and tongues smeared with threatening, sanctioning and terrorizing the #Iranian nation, are not entitled to dishonor the ancient #Persian_language,” Mousavi said in a post on his Twitter account on Sunday, reacting to a tweet in Persian language from the US president.
“By the way, are you actually ‘standing by’ millions of Iranians whose hero you just assassinated or ‘standing against’ them?!” Mousavi said in response to Trump.
Trump's tweet came after dozens of people protested outside a university in downtown Tehran to denounce officials' belated confirmation of a Ukrainian passenger plane unintentionally downed outside the Iranian capital.
"To the brave, long-suffering people of Iran: I’ve stood with you since the beginning of my Presidency, and my Administration will continue to stand with you. We are following your protests closely, and are inspired by your courage,” wrote Trump.
The US president had uncharacteristically remained silent as several million Iranians took to streets for days to honor Lt. General Qassem Soleimani who was assassinated on Trump's order in Baghdad, Press TV reported.
Trump's reference to the suffering of the Iranian people was also ironical because it has largely been caused by his most draconian sanctions on the country.
On Friday, Trump administration announced new sanctions targeting Iran’s construction, manufacturing, textiles, mining, aluminum, copper, iron and steel industries.
Apart from threatening to attack sites "very important" to the Iranian culture, the US president has described Iran as a "terrorist nation" and outraged Iranians by referring to the Persian Gulf as "Arabian".
Trump's tweet in Persian also drew denunciation from Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Abbas Salehi.
"The Persian language is a symbol of the Iranian culture. Until yesterday, the repeated threat of Iranian cultural sites and today dialogue with Iranians in Persian!" he tweeted.
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