Trump’s bombastic remarks framing Iran as the biggest “agent of chaos and terror,” as he said from Riyadh May 13 and as he reiterated again at a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council on May 14, have drawn a strong response from Iran. President Masoud Pezeshkian said on May 14 that Iran will not “bow to any bully.” “He thinks he can come here, chant slogans and scare us. For us, martyrdom is far sweeter than dying in bed. You came to frighten us? We will not bow to any bully,” Pezeshkian said in comments broadcast live on state TV.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also strongly rejected Trump’s remarks. “He tries to portray Iran as the cause of insecurity, but who killed 60,000 people in Gaza?” Araghchi said to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting in Tehran on May 14, reported Tasnim. “Is it us who cause insecurity?”
