Iran calls Trump ‘feebleminded’ for moving US embassy to Jerusalem

TEHRAN — Iran denounced President Donald Trump as “feeble-minded” over Monday’s controversial move of the US embassy to Jerusalem, and called for resistance from the Palestinians and the international community.

“America has entered a crisis of strategic decision-making that looks at the international arena immaturely and adventurously,” said parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a key establishment figure, at a conference on the Palestinian situation in Tehran.

“I believe the current US president is not capable of identifying and judging the long-term consequences of his actions,” he added.

The United States was due to open its new embassy in Jerusalem later on Monday amid widespread praise from Israelis and Palestinian anger.

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press after announcing his decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran during a speech from the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House on May 8, 2018. (AFP Photo/Saul Loeb)

“Spur-of-the-moment and uncalculated actions cannot continue in today’s world. Feeblemindness is costly for statesmen and they will eventually have to pay the price,” Larijani said.

Workers prepare the stage for the official opening ceremony of the US embassy in Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Iran is a key backer of Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas, and opposition to Israel has been a central tenet of its regime since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

From left: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Speaker of Iran’s Parliament Ali Larijani and Iranian Judicial head Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani attend a 2017 Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada (Screen capture: Mehr News Agency)

Larijani called for an “immediate reaction” from Palestinians, Islamic countries and the international community — including boycotts and official complaints to the United Nations.

The US “must not think that such actions… can remain without a response,” he said.

Iran has repeatedly denounced Trump and his administration, most recently over the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal.

Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reads a Persian translation of the Michael Wolff book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” in a photograph Khamenei shared on Instagram, May 11, 2018 (Instagram)

On Friday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei trolled Trump by posing for a photograph reading a Persian translation of the book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.” Khamenei then had the photograph posted on his Instagram page. Khamenei picked up the book while on a tour of a Tehran book fair on Friday.

Michael Wolff’s book, published in January, has been a runaway bestseller and infuriated Trump. The president sought to block its publication. Trump tweeted when it was released that the instant bestseller — which paints him as disengaged, ill-informed, and unstable, with signs of serious memory loss — was a “Fake Book, written by a totally discredited author.”

Khamenei posted the image days after Trump quit the 2015 nuclear deal. Khamenei has warned that Tehran will also withdraw from the accord, which was designed to rein in Iran’s rogue nuclear weapons program, unless European signatories offer solid guarantees that trade relations will continue after the US withdrawal, and slammed Trump over the move.

Iran has also been attempting to establish a military presence in Syria, and last week fired 20 rockets at northern Israel, prompting heavy Israeli reprisal strikes.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that Israel would be victorious in its “ongoing campaign” against Iran, amid warnings from Jerusalem that the Islamic Republic’s continued military presence in Syria would not be tolerated.