Ayatollah thanks Trump for ' Revealing True Face' of America

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in sarcastic remarks to the US president thanked Donald Trump for showing the true face of his country to the world, and meantime told him that Iranians are too powerful to be intimidated by his threats.

"We are not thankful of that (Obama's) administration at all because it imposed heavy sanctions (against Tehran) with the aim of crippling the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic and of course, it didn't attain its goal as no other enemy will be able to cripple this great nation either," Ayatollah Khamenei said in Tehran on Tuesday, addressing the Army's Air Force and Air Defense commanders and personnel.

"Why should we thank the former US administration? For the anti-Iran sanctions? For the creation of the ISIL? For setting fire on Syria and Iraq? Or for their hypocrisy, that is they express sincerity and tendency for cooperation in a private letter but show clear support for sedition (unrests) after the 2009 (presidential) election?" he added in reaction to Trump's comments that Tehran should thank the Obama administration.

"These are instances of the same velvet glove worn by the former US administration over its iron clad," Ayatollah Khamenei said.

He also blasted Trump's recent remarks that the Iranians should fear him, and said, "Iranians don't fear threats."

Ayatolllah Khamenei, meantime, thanked Trump for showing Washington's real face to the world, and said he proved the correctness of Iran's warnings about the political, economic, social and moral corruption in the US ruling system.

In relevant remarks on Monday, Iranian First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri deplored the US officials' threats against Iran, stressing that Washington, itself, will be harmed by its hostile behavior towards Tehran.

"We welcome the language of talks and interaction and those who speak with the Iranian nation with the language of threat and impolitely will certainly lose," Jahangiri told reporters in the Southern city of Abadan.

Expressing the hope that the US would stop its hostilities against Iran, he said, "There is a very tall wall of distrust between Iran and the US because in many cases, the Americans have played a role against the Iranian nation and these issues cannot be wiped off the Iranian nation's mind easily and any soon."

His comments came after US President Donald Trump claimed on Sunday that Iran "lost respect" for the US in the wake of the 2015 nuclear deal signed between Tehran and the world powers, and that it now feels "emboldened" by the agreement.

Also early Thursday, Trump echoed his national security adviser Michael Flynn's comments a day earlier that Iran is now formally "on notice" for firing a ballistic missile.

"Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile. Should have been thankful for the terrible deal the U.S. made with them!" he tweeted, without providing any other details.

"Iran was on its last legs and ready to collapse until the U.S. came along and gave it a life-line in the form of the Iran Deal: $150 billion," he added.

Flynn during a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room last Wednesday criticized Iran for its recent ballistic missile test.

In response, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani underlined his country's continued progress and advancement in its defense and missile program, saying that the country is strongly opposed to foreign interference.

"We will not take permission from any country or international organization to develop our conventional defense power and we will confront any foreign interference in the defense affairs, including the Islamic Republic of Iran's missile power," Shamkhani said in a meeting with Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan in Tehran on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, he blasted the western countries for their attempts to use sanctions to restrict the countries which are victims of terrorism, including Iran and Syria, and the West's support for terrorist groups.

"The Takfiri armed groups which are supported by certain regional states intellectually and financially beside the Zionist regime are two main threats to global security and unfortunately, the paper coalitions (those which have merely been formed on paper and take no practical measures) have not had any defensible performance in controlling these threats," Shamkhani said.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan confirmed last Wednesday that his country has tested a missile recently, describing it as part of Iran's defense programs.

"The recent test was in line with our programs and we don't allow any foreign party to interfere in our defense affairs," General Dehqan told reporters in Tehran in reaction to the recent UN Security Council meeting on Iran's missile test.

He underscored that the missile test "contradicts neither the nuclear deal (between Iran and the world powers signed in 2015) nor the Resolution 2231".