Tehran Friday Prayer Leader: America Does Not Adhere to International Commitments

Mohammad Ali Mohammadi Kermani, the temporary Friday prayer leader of Tehran, accused the United States of "not adhering to international laws" and stated that "America makes commitments in nuclear negotiations while simultaneously violating them and committing breaches of contract." The Friday prayer leader emphasized the seizure of Iranian assets in the U.S. following a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, stating: "America plunders the property of countries and the wealth of people; from this pulpit, I announce to the world and countries to withdraw your money from American banks, otherwise the U.S. Supreme Court will kindly issue a ruling declaring your assets stolen." The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on April 20 of this year that $2 billion of Iran's blocked assets in the U.S. should be paid to the families of American victims of several terrorist operations linked to Tehran, including the 1983 bombings at the U.S. Marine Corps headquarters and French soldiers in Beirut, Lebanon. The Islamic Republic of Iran has protested this ruling and is seeking to annul it through international bodies. Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, condemned this ruling, describing it with terms such as "theft," "banditry," and "robbery." Mohammadi Kermani called America a "liar" and "hypocrite" and criticized what he termed "America's support for Saudi Arabia against the people of Yemen." According to the Friday prayer leader, "America kills people, women, and children and does not apologize." A member of the Assembly of Experts addressed the "Islamic world," saying: "Know that America is the enemy of your Islam and Quran, as it wholeheartedly supports the occupying regime of Quds, which is a staunch enemy of Islam and Muslims, providing financial and military assistance to this usurping regime." The temporary Friday prayer leader of Tehran also labeled America as "Islamophobic" and "Shia-phobic," stating: "America is hypocritical; it pretends to form an anti-Daesh coalition but secretly provides financial and military assistance to them and terrorists." Mohammadi Kermani further added: "When a dangerous wave of terrorism reaches Europe, America screams and condemns terrorism, but when they become active in Syria and start massacres, it praises them." In another part of his sermon, the Friday prayer leader thanked Major General Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), for his "decisive positions" and "warnings to America and its regional partners and allies" as well as for "using threatening language against them." Major General Hossein Salami stated in mid-May 2016: "According to the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea, we must firmly confront any harmful passage through the Strait of Hormuz." He also emphasized: "We warn America, its partners, and regional allies that if they want to use threatening language and threaten us, we will use the law of innocent passage and will not allow any ship or vessel that threatens us to pass." Mohsen Rezaei: We must not allow even one dollar to go down the throats of Americans. Concurrently with Mohammadi Kermani's speech at the Tehran Friday prayer, Mohsen Rezaei, the speaker before the Friday prayer in Qom, also addressed a similar theme to that of the Tehran Friday prayer leader. Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Expediency Council, referring to the seizure of $2 billion of Iran's assets in the U.S., stated: "We must not allow even one dollar to go down the throats of Americans." According to Mohsen Rezaei, "The injustice that America does to us in economic matters is no less than the imposed war." The Secretary of the Expediency Council, in another part of his speech, referred to the economic problems in Iran, stating: "A long time has passed since the JCPOA, but our economic problems have not been resolved; we have fulfilled our commitments, and now we must be the ones to demand." In this context, Salami: If America threatens, we will be very dangerous. Rouhani: The people will become aware of the negligence of the past regarding the $2 billion case. Hassan Rouhani: We will take the case of the seizure of Iran's assets by America to the international court. "Protest" of the Non-Aligned Movement against the American court ruling against Iran. Changing the battlefield of "proxies"; war against the people in the streets of Iran. The first paragraph; the responsibility of the opposition and the possibility of radicalization of Iranian society. The death of the last Mossad representative in Tehran amid the Iranian crisis.