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Former House Judiciary chief counsel Julian Epstein joins ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s meeting with Iran and the future of the relationship.
JERUSALEM – Just hours after President Donald Trump concluded his Middle East visit, Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday launched a tirade against America and Israel, charging that Trump is a liar and calling for the destruction of the Jewish state.
“Trump said he wants to use power for peace. He’s lying,” wrote Khamenei on X, adding, “Some of the remarks made during the US President’s trip to the region aren’t even worth a response at all. The level of those remarks is so low that they are a source of shame for the American nation.”
Washington has designated Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism since the 1980s. The rabidly anti-Western and antisemitic ayatollah called the Jewish state—America’s key ally in the Middle East — a “cancerous tumor” that must be uprooted.
According to the Trump administration, Khamenei’s regime is the world’s leading state-sponsor of antisemitism.
TRUMP PRAISES SAUDI ARABIA IN FIRST STOP ON MIDDLE EAST TRIP
Khamenei also took aim at the Sunni Arab countries that are allied with the U.S. in the Mideast, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
“This failed model, where Arab states are told they can’t survive ten days without US support, is being imposed again. But it will collapse, and America will leave this region.”
The wily 86-year-old revolutionary Islamist said that Washington aimed to promote Sunni Arab dependency on Washington. “The US wants these countries unable to function without it — that’s the message in their behavior and their proposals.”
Khamenei also accused America of using its resources to attack the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
“The US has used its power to massacre in Gaza, to stoke war wherever possible, and to arm its mercenaries,” said Khamenei. The U.S.-designated terrorist movement, Hamas, is a strategic partner of Iran’s regime. Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, and slaughtered over 1,200 people, including many Americans.
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During his trip to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, Trump called Iran’s regime the main force of instability in the Middle East.
“The biggest and most destructive of these forces is the regime in Iran, which has caused unthinkable suffering in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Yemen and beyond, “said Trump in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Alireza Nader, a Washington, D.C., expert on Iran’s regime, told Fox News Digital that Iran “has been dealt a severe military setback by Israel, and the Iranian public desires the regime’s overthrow. President Trump has an overwhelming advantage in the negotiations and could severely restrict and limit the regime’s nuclear program.”
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Trump said he wants a deal with Iran to stop its illegal nuclear weapons program. In his speech, Trump told Iran that it must abandon its drive to build an atomic bomb.
“While you have been constructing the world’s tallest skyscrapers in Jeddah and Dubai, Tehran’s 1979 landmarks are collapsing into rubble,” Trump said. “[Iran’s] corrupt water mafia . . . causes droughts and empty riverbeds. They get rich.”
Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal, and email him at benjamin.weinthal@fox.com
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