Iran accuses US of 'Iranophobia', arming 'dangerous terrorists'
Iran accused the United States on Monday of selling arms t o "dangerous terrorists" in the Middle East and of spreading "Iranophobia" to encourage Arab states to purchase arms, state TV reported.
"Once again, by his repetitive and baseless claims about Iran, the American president ... tried to encourage the countries of the region to purchase more arms by spreading Iranophobia," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said, a day after US President Donald Trump ended a visit to Tehran's arch-foe Saudi Arabia where arms deals worth almost $110 billion were signed.
Sending a tough message to Tehran shortly after pragmatist Hassan Rouhani was re-elected president, Trump had urged Arab and Islamic leaders to unite to defeat Islamist militants, and said Iran had for decades "fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terrors."
Qassemi said Washington was "reinvigorating terrorists in the region by its hostile policies" and "should stop selling arms to dangerous terrorists."
He said the United States and its allies "should know that Iran is a democratic, stable and powerful country" and that it promoted "peace, good neighbourliness, and the creation of a world opposed to violence and extremism."
