Strong Criticism from Iranian Security-Military Officials of Donald Trump's Remarks at the UN

The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council described the remarks of the U.S. President and the Israeli Prime Minister at the UN General Assembly as indicative of their "war-mongering, hostile, and anti-peace spirit." The commander of the Revolutionary Guard also called for a "painful response" to the U.S. According to Fars News Agency, Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, on Wednesday, September 29, urged the Iranian President to give a "decisive, revolutionary, and enlightening response" to Donald Trump's remarks in his speech at the UN General Assembly, which Hassan Rouhani is scheduled to address later that day. Jafari added: "A decisive stance against Trump is just the beginning, and what is strategically important is that the U.S. will witness more painful responses in the actions and decisions Iran will take in the coming months." The commander emphasized that "the time has come to correct America's wrong calculations" and called for President Rouhani's government to defend "the interests of the Iranian nation" against the U.S. Jafari did not specify the details of his demands from Rouhani's government to confront the U.S. Previously, the Supreme Leader and his close associates had also called for a "revolutionary" stance from Rouhani's government against U.S. actions without providing solutions. Despite Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's approval of the Vienna nuclear agreement, he and his associates continue to criticize it while claiming that the Islamic Republic is committed to the agreement. Jafari's remarks come as U.S. officials consider some of the Revolutionary Guard's actions, including the Quds Force's activities in the region and missile tests, as contrary to the "spirit" of the Vienna nuclear agreement. In his first speech at the UN on Tuesday, the U.S. President referred to the Iranian government as a "rogue" state that, according to him, spends the country's resources on "violence" in the region. Donald Trump also called on the international community to counter the "destabilizing actions of the criminal regime" of Iran. Trump referred to the Iran nuclear deal with six world powers as a "bad deal" and emphasized that the U.S. would never remain in a one-sided agreement that offers no benefit to the country. However, the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council considered these statements as stemming from the U.S. President's "poor understanding of international agreements and their legal foundations." "None of the signatories of the JCPOA have the right to evade the accepted mechanisms in this international agreement by raising baseless and non-legal excuses," said the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, on Wednesday. The Supreme Leader also stated on Sunday at Tehran's Police University that "any wrong action by the U.S. will face a decisive response from Iran." Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, tweeted: "The JCPOA is non-negotiable. A better deal is merely a fantasy." Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian President, also stated on Tuesday that the JCPOA is a multilateral international commitment endorsed by the UN Security Council and that "exiting this commitment will incur a very heavy cost for the U.S." However, on the same day, Rex Tillerson, the U.S. Secretary of State, stated in an interview with Fox that if the U.S. is to remain committed to the nuclear agreement with Iran and six world powers, changes must be made to it. The Israeli Prime Minister, in his speech at the UN, urged the international community to abandon the agreement or make significant changes to it. However, Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, defended the agreement with Iran, stating that abandoning the JCPOA without a suitable replacement would be a dangerous mistake. European countries involved in the nuclear agreement had previously issued a joint statement with the United States describing Iran's ballistic missile tests as inconsistent with the nuclear agreement. The U.S. government also accuses Tehran of actions that contradict the "spirit" of the JCPOA, such as missile tests and support for militias, which threaten regional and global stability. The U.S. President also stated in his speech on Tuesday that everyone knows the Iranian people want change and that Iran's leaders fear their own people more than anyone else. Trump added: "That is why the regime restricts access to the internet, collects people's satellites, shoots at peaceful student protests, and imprisons those who seek reforms." Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, responded to these remarks by stating: "If the U.S. government is concerned about the Iranian people's access to the internet, why does it block access to numerous sites under the pretext of sanctions?" Jahromi's comments come as judicial authorities and the committee determining the criteria for criminal content in Iran have filtered many social networks and news sites in recent years. Several other Iranian officials also reacted to the U.S. President's remarks. Mohammad Reza Aref, the head of the Hope faction in the Parliament, tweeted: "Trump's speech was so disgusting that it will not even garner support from his own people." Hamid Abutalebi, the political deputy of the Iranian President's office, also tweeted that Trump is "incapable of understanding the difference between a speech at the UN and a rough game of American football." Mohsen Rezaei, the Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, stated that "apparently Netanyahu wrote the draft of Trump's speech." The U.S. President also accused Iranian officials of spending the country's oil revenues on "Hezbollah and other terrorist groups" to "kill innocent Muslims and attack peaceful Arab and Israeli neighbors." The presence of Iranian military forces in Iraq and Syria has drawn protests from some regional countries, including several Gulf Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia, as well as some countries around the world like the U.S. However, Iranian officials claim that the purpose of their forces' presence in Syria and Iraq is to provide advisory services to the governments of those countries in combating the Islamic State (ISIS).