Iran rejects US defense secretary’s meddlesome remarks

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan has dismissed as meddlesome and disgraceful the recent remarks by his US counterpart Jim Mattis against the Islamic Republic, saying they run counter to all principles of the international law.

Instead of ordering other nations around, the US defense secretary and ruling administration had better think about ways to solve the country’s domestic issues and study their root causes, Dehqan said on Tuesday.

He added that such internal issues would most probably lead to the collapse of the sitting US government in the near future and pose numerous and serious challenges to the country’s political system.

The Iranian defense minister said individuals such as the US defense secretary have an arrogant and bullying nature, overlook the power of nations and ignore historical facts and these factors have robbed them of their common sense.

Dehqan likened such comments to delirious comments by an ill person.

US policies, support for terrorist-nurturing regimes root causes of extremism

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi also on Tuesday dismissed Mattis’s “thoughtless and unfounded” remarks, saying the US government’s policies and its support for terrorist-nurturing regimes are the root causes of extremism and terrorism.

“Terrorism and extremism in the region and in the world are rooted in the US thoughtless policies in supporting terrorist-nurturing countries and the state terrorism of the Zionist regime [of Israel],” he said.

He rejected an unfounded allegation leveled by Mattis about Iran’s alleged efforts in the past to murder the Saudi ambassador in downtown Washington, saying the US, itself, had drawn up the plot with the support of one of the regional countries.

The Iranian spokesperson said Mattis has repeatedly accused Iran of supporting terrorism while “the US establishment and its current defense secretary, himself, are the symbols of terrorism and violation of human rights.”

Qassemi added that the US has been pursuing a hackneyed and fruitless policy over the past decades to cause a divide among the Iranian nation and the Islamic establishment.

Addressing a high school journalism student in Mercer Island, a Seattle suburb on Monday, Mattis called for a regime change in Iran for the restoration of Tehran-Washington relations.

He said any potential rapprochement with Tehran would be difficult, claiming that Iran is not really a democratic country.

He also alleged, without providing any evidence, that Iran is the most destabilizing influence in the Middle East.