Iran’s supreme leader: US faces ‘unprecedented’ defeat

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Wednesday that the U.S. faces “unprecedented” defeat because of sanctions it has placed on Iran under President Trump.

“The sanctions do put pressure on the country and the people,” Khamenei said during a speech in Tehran, according to Reuters.

{mosads}“The Americans happily say that these sanctions are unprecedented in history,” he added. “Yes, they’re unprecedented. And the defeat that the Americans will face will be unprecedented, God willing.”

Trump last year pulled the U.S. out of a nuclear agreement with Iran that lifted sanctions on the country in exchange for limits on its nuclear program.

By pulling out of the deal, Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran that had been lifted.

Khamenei on Wednesday called officials in the U.S. “first-class idiots” because of their approach to Iran, Reuters reported.

Trump has long criticized the 2015 accord between Iran and several other countries, often calling it a “horrible” deal. 

Khamenei’s comments Wednesday were the latest threat Iran has levied against the U.S., as leaders from the two nations have issued various warnings since Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal.

After Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned last year that war with Iran is the “mother of all wars,” Trump issued an all-caps tweet telling Rouhani to “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”