Imam Khamenei Blasts US’ Unauthorized Trips to Regional States

By Staff, Agencies

Leader of the Islamic Revolution His Eminence Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei slammed the US leaders’ unauthorized trips to regional countries insult the freedom and independence of nations.

“Americans come [to the region] and enter a country like Iraq without any permission, do not visit the country’s government, do not go to the country’s capital; they have bases there, and just go to their own base,” Imam Khamenei's official Persian Twitter account read.

“This means they officially insult the freedom and independence of nations,” the tweet added.

The comments were posted early Friday, apparently in a fresh reaction to US President Donald Trump’s unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday.

Earlier on Wednesday, Imam Khamenei pointed to the former Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in early 1980s, and recalled that late Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, had ordered the Iranian government to summon the Soviet ambassador over the illegal entry.

“At that time, the world said ‘you are countering the United States, do not confront the USSR for now’, but the Imam did not accept such a point of view,” Imam Khamenei said.

Trump landed at the US base Bagram airfield in Afghanistan on Thursday and served Thanksgiving dinner to American troops before meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

During the visit, Trump claimed the Taliban militant group had accepted a ceasefire to facilitate talks with Washington.

"The Taliban wants to make a deal and we're meeting with them and we're saying it has to be a cease fire," Trump, on his first trip to the war-torn country, told reporters.

“We are talking to the Taliban,” Trump said.

“We will see if the Taliban wants to make a deal,” he said during his meeting with Ghani. “If they do, they do. If they don’t they don’t. We were getting close.”

The Taliban, however, rejected Trump’s gesture of ceasefire on Friday, saying it was "way too early" to speak of resuming direct talks with Washington.

"It is way too early to talk about the resumption of talks for now. We will give our official reaction later," Taliban official spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.