Unexpected reaction from Iranians as Trump torches their leaders; Khamenei too reacts

US President Donald Trump's scathing attack on Iranian leadership during his Middle East visit has garnered some unexpected reactions from Iranians, who took to social media to express their approval for the US President's words. However, the leadership reacted to Trump's remarks, with Khamenei addressing the West as "human-like beasts".

 

Trump, in a speech during his visit to Saudi Arabia, torched Iranian leaders, accusing them of being the "biggest and most destructive of these forces, is the regime in Iran." In the audience were Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other top Saudi and US officials.

 

Trump said Iran’s decades of "neglect and mismanagement have left the country plagued by rolling blackouts lasting for hours a day". He alleged that Iranian leaders managed to turn green farmland into dry deserts as their corrupt water mafia caused droughts and empty riverbeds."

 

"They get rich, but they don’t let the people have any of it," Trump said, adding that Iran's leaders have focused on stealing their people’s wealth to fund terror and bloodshed abroad. He added Iran's proxy Hezbollah pillaged Lebanon, whose capital Beirut was once called the Paris of the Middle East, while countless lives were lost in Syria. 

 

His sharp words, however, were welcomed by a section of Iranians, both inside and outside the country, on social media, which lauded Trump for his "harshest and most bitter words with complete politeness." 

 

So resonating were Trump's words that even some journalists inside Iran couldn’t help but risk reprimand by praising the US President, according to London-based news website Iran International. 

 

"The idea that Trump would make these points in such minute detail in his speech in Saudi Arabia when he was going to talk about Iran - from the destruction of Tehran's historic buildings to the water mafia - and make comparisons like that was very clever," renowned journalist Sadra Mohaqeq wrote on X, adding how that "how it happened on the day he lifted sanctions on Syria." 

 

Another user wrote in Farsi how Trump didn't just humiliate the regime in front of millions of people around the world, but actually crushed it. "He knows everything about it, from the symbols that the Shah built and are now being destroyed, his praise of the progress that existed in the previous system (the monarchy), to the frequent power outages, the water mafia," the post on X read. 

 

Another post on X read: "Our poor beloved Iran is being talked about like this, and whether we like Trump or not, what he says is true and painful." 

 

Journalist and human rights activist Hadi Mehrani too, joined the chorus: "Let's not fool ourselves, Trump's words about Iran were all true and true." 

 

Some suspected that an Iranian writer may have helped Trump draft the speech, stating he spoke as if he were a fellow Iranian chatting with a friend. "His words were so clear. Iran’s officials should die of shame," user Maryamgh wrote on X.  

 

As for Iran's state-backed media, it was radio silence. While Hardline media ignored Trump's speech, Kayhan, whose chief is appointed by Khamenei, was the only paper to address the speech directly, dismissing it as "reckless".

 

However, the Iranian leadership wasn't clearly amused. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei led the attack on Trump. "Today, the world is being run by these human-like beasts, and the Islamic Republic considers it its duty to stand against their savagery and bloodshed," he said, referring to the Western nations, including the US and Israel. 

 

"It is this sense of duty that has driven enemies like the Westerners to confront the Islamic Republic, because if we stopped opposing their barbarity, they would have no enmity with us."

Middle East