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Features

Rouhani Fires Back at Trump and Saudi Arabia

May 23, 2017
Reza HaghighatNejad
4 min read
Rouhani Fires Back at Trump and Saudi Arabia

In his first press conference following May 19’s decisive victory in Iran's presidential election, President Rouhani lashed out at US president Donald Trump and his support for Saudi Arabia, which he dismissed as weak and out of touch with its people. The country, he said had “never seen a ballot box” and was a stranger to elections.

During his trip to Saudi Arabia, President Trump criticized Iran’s role in funding terrorism, and spoke out against its ballistic missile programme.

In retaliation, Rouhani dismissed the meeting between Trump and the Saudi crown prince as a publicity stunt.

Speaking to reporters on May 22, Rouhani said with thick sarcasm that he hoped the Trump administration would one day be stable enough for Iran to be able to judge it with accuracy.

At the same time, he dismissed the arms settlement Trump had secured with the Saudis. “We do not need to buy arms,” he said in a humiliating tone, “Because we make them.”

While 40 million Iranians had participated in the elections, Rouhani said, “Some people do not understand the word ‘election’ because they have never seen a ballot box,” adding: “I hope some day, the rulers of Arabia will be elected by the people.”  

Rouhani also accused the US government of failing to understand the Middle East and its problems, saying that its actions in the region had been consistently wrong, both in its decisions to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, and in its policies toward Iran. In fact, he said, the only success the US could speak of was the nuclear deal, which had achieved a “win-win result” for Iran.

The Iranian president also dismissed recent the remarks of US Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, who called on Rouhani to end Iran’s ballistic missile program. Rouhani saw another opportunity to put his sarcasm to good use, suggesting Tillerson re-read  UN Security Council Resolution 2231 regarding the program.

One of Rouhani’s key campaign promises was to persuade the international community to lift non-nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, most of which were imposed in response to the ballistic missile program, support for terrorism or violations against human rights. Any success here will will require serious and direct negotiations between the Islamic Republic and the US government — and Rouhani will also need to secure the blessing of the supreme leader before engaging in such talks. Since Ayatollah Khamenei seems less than inclined to agree to negotiations with Trump’s administration, this is a significant obstacle. Also, Rouhani strongly defended the missile program in his press conference, so it is not clear how he plans to persuade the Americans to lift missile-related sanctions.

“American Islam”

President Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia commanded a lot of media attention, not only about the controversial arms deal between the two countries, but also about deteriorating relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Some Iranian reporters asked about the possibility of an armed confrontation between the two countries. On May 23, Iranian government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht insisted that Saudi Arabia was “not in a position to do such a thing.” Prior to this, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said that if Saudi Arabia attacked Iran, the Islamic Republic would launch a devastating counter-attack, sparing only the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

During his press conference, Rouhani also pointed out that Saudi Arabia had provided Saddam Hussein’s regime with military assistance during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

Others chimed in too. Ayatollah Khamenei’s advisor for international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati —  foreign minister throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s —  referred to Saudi Arabia an example of “American Islam.” He accused Trump of being “like a street vendor” and “going around the center of Islam trying to collect money to save the bankrupt American economy.” Velayati then went on to compare Saudi Arabia to Iran under the shah before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iranian media was quick to follow suit, calling Trump a shady businessman and making jokes at the expense of Saudi Arabia, which, it said, had been swindled out of its money.

This tactic of mockery is a familiar one in Iran. A few words of sarcasm and suddenly it’s a popular pastime: Trump doesn’t know what he’s doing and the Saudis have been duped. In many ways, this mockery covers up any real threats or concerns, and, after all, the president has led the game. Publicly, Iran cannot be seen to take Saudi rulers or US policy seriously. It’s better to portray their actions as a farce, bordering on ridiculousness. For the moment at least, Trump is the lead actor in this particular burlesque performance.


 

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