Khamenei: Trump lied when he said he wants peace; Israel ‘cancerous tumor’ in region

By Reuters 17 May 2025, 12:38 pm

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses members of the Hajj pilgrimage committee in Tehran on May 4, 2025. (Photo by KHAMENEI.IR / AFP)

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says that US President Donald Trump’s comments on his country during his Gulf visit were “not worth responding to.”

Khamenei says that Trump was lying when he said he wants peace, citing statements by the US president during his trip to the Gulf that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”

Khamenei also says that Israel is “a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor in the region” that must be uprooted.

“Undoubtedly, in this region, the source of corruption, war, and conflict is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor in the region — and it must be uprooted and it will be uprooted,” he says, according to state media.