Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei addresses a group of Iranian teachers and educators in the Iranian capital Tehran on May 17, 2025. (Photo by Leader.ir)

Tehran, May 18 (RHC)-- The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has lambasted remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump during his Persian Gulf tour, stating that the comments are "a source of disgrace" for Trump himself and Americans at large and are not worthy of a response at all.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in the Iranian capital Tehran on Saturday as he received a group of teachers and educators from different cities and provinces across the country.

“None of the statements made during the U.S. president's visit to the region are worthy of a response at all.  The level of Trump's remarks is so low that it is a source of embarrassment for the speaker and a source of disgrace for the American nation,” the Leader said.

Ayatollah Khamenei continued: “Trump said he wanted to use power for the sake of peace.  He lied.  He and American officials, U.S. administrations, used power in order to massacre Gaza, to wage war wherever they could, and to support their own mercenaries.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution underlined that power, nevertheless, could be used to foster peace and security, and that explains why Iran is striving every day to boost its national might.

“But they (Americans) did not do such a thing.  They used their power to supply the Zionist regime with ten-ton bombs to drop on the children of Gaza, on hospitals, on people's homes, in Lebanon, and wherever they could,” he said.

The Leader then described the occupying Zionist regime as the “source of corruption, the source of war, and the source of discord” in the West Asia region.  “The Zionist regime, which is a dangerous and malignant cancerous tumor in this region, must and will be uprooted,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Leader stated that the U.S. president is offering regional Arab states a model that, in his own words, these countries cannot live without the U.S. for even ten days.

“This model has definitely failed,” the Leader noted.  “With the struggles of regional nations, the U.S. must and will leave this region.”