WANA (Oct 24) – Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami, Tehran’s interim Friday prayer leader, dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim of friendship toward the Iranian people as “a blatant lie,” accusing Washington of decades of hostility dating back to the 1953 coup.

 

Speaking during the second sermon at Tehran University, Khatami said that the Supreme Leader’s recent meeting with Iranian athletes highlighted two key themes: hope and dignity. “Iran’s youth are a source of national hope,” he said, pointing to scientific and technological advances in fields such as nanotechnology, nuclear research, and medicine.

 

On the issue of dignity and power, Khatami directly addressed Trump, accusing him of hypocrisy in his stance on terrorism. “You claim to fight terrorism while being the very embodiment of it,” he said, adding that the U.S. was complicit in the deaths of civilians in Gaza and had assassinated Iranian figures including General Qassem Soleimani and nuclear scientists.

 

“If the world seeks to identify a terrorist, that terrorist is Trump himself,” Khatami declared, alleging that Washington was behind the rise of ISIS. He argued that resistance groups such as Hezbollah, Yemen’s Ansarallah, and Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi had been wrongly labeled as terrorists for standing against “U.S. and Israeli aggression.”

 

Referring to Trump’s repeated statements about being ready to “make a deal” with Iran, Khatami said, “What kind of deal? A deal imposed by force is not negotiation but submission — and the Iranian nation will never submit.”

 

He went on to invoke an analogy drawn from classical Persian philosophy: “Avicenna once said, ‘I fear the bull, for it has a weapon but no intellect.’ The Iranian nation, with God’s help, will break the horns of this wild bull,” he said, in a pointed reference to the U.S.

 

Khatami also reflected on the 10th anniversary of the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the JCPOA, calling it “a lesson in distrust.” He warned Iranian politicians against any renewed talks with Washington, echoing recent comments by the Iranian foreign minister that “America is greedy, and Iran will not return to the negotiating table.”

 

Turning to Gaza, Khatami condemned Israel for violating the recent ceasefire “over 80 times,” accusing Western powers — including the U.S., U.K., France, and Germany — of complicity in the ongoing violence. “They stood by as 97 Palestinians were martyred and over 200 injured,” he said.

A man wearing a Trump mask attends a rally in support of the people of Gaza, after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran, October 10, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)