Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, criticized the administration of US President Donald Trump for its inconsistent behavior, after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that Iran does not do enough to support Palestine.
Zarif posted a tweet calling the Trump administration’s description of Iran’s regional role “truly comical,” outlining that while accusing Tehran of using its resources to finance terrorism in other countries, the White House is now suggesting that Iran isn’t putting enough money toward financial aid for Palestine, referencing Trump’s earlier tweet accusing Iran of “squandering on terrorism.”
The foreign minister’s reaction came after US State Secretary Mike Pompeo blasted Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Twitter, after Khamenei tweeted that he agreed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Palestinian problems “should not be neglected even for a second.”
Pompeo accused Iran of being “morally corrupted,” by financing terrorism and donating only small amounts of money to United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which works in Palestine as a humanitarian aid organization.
Ayatollah Khamenei says he cares about Palestinians.
FACT: Since 1994, the U.S. provided $6.3 billion in aid to support the Palestinian people; #Iran’s morally corrupt regime provided hundreds of millions in aid to terrorists who endanger the Palestinians’ lives & livelihoods. https://t.co/GCP8IjFdFt
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) September 8, 2018
Meanwhile, the US ordered some $25 million to be redirected from Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem as a part of a review of American aid to Palestine. The cuts came as a part of a Trump rethink of US assistance to Palestinians, begun earlier this year. As a result, over $200 million has been redirected from Palestinian economic support in the West Bank and Gaza. A statement from the Palestinian Foreign ministry pointed out that axing support for hospitals threatens the lives of thousands of Palestinians.
“This dangerous and unjustified American escalation has crossed all red lines and is considered a direct aggression against the Palestinian people,” the Palestinian foreign ministry observed.
Although the official stated reason for the removal of US aid to Palestine is “to ensure the funds were being spent in accordance with US national interests and were providing value to taxpayers,” Trump later remarked in a Rosh Hashanah conference call that he had stopped the aid to force Palestine to accept Israel’s version of what a peace treaty between the two nations would look like, cited by CBS News.
“We were — the United States was paying them tremendous amounts of money,” Trump said on Thursday, “And I’d say, you’ll get money, but we’re not paying you until we make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, we’re not paying,” cited by Newsweek.
Trump is reportedly planning to roll out his Middle East peace plan during the September UN General Assembly meeting, and will introduce new guidelines for both Israel and Palestine. The last attempt for peace talks brokered by the US, in 2014, ended without agreement.
