TEHRAN - Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has called on the U.S. to stop offering “faux sympathy” for the Iranian nation, saying Iranian will not fall for such a “game”, Press TV reported.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Zarif highlighted Donald Trump’s hostile agenda against the Islamic Republic, saying his recent statements against the Iranians blew the lid off Washington’s “faux sympathy.”

“Faux sympathy for Iranians belied by Trump’s use of fake name for Persian Gulf, calling them terrorist nation& banning them from visiting,” Zarif tweeted.

Zarif added that Iranians are impervious to such U.S. polys and so-called sympathy.

Announcing his new Iran strategy in a speech on October 13, Trump used the fake name “Arabian Gulf” historically known as the Persian Gulf.  

President Rouhani called on Trump to study history and geography and improve his comprehension of international obligations and global civility, etiquette and conventions.

Before his speech, Trump had called Iran a “terrorist nation.” He has also issued a travel ban against nationals of several Muslim-majority states, including Iran.

Drawing a comparison between turnout in the presidential election in Iran and the United States, Zarif also said, “Lose the ‘standing with the Iranian people’ mantra. They elected their president w/ 6 million more popular votes & 73% turnout. Compare?”

The Iranian foreign minister’s tweets came after his U.S. counterpart, Rex Tillerson, claimed Washington’s sanctions against Tehran are aimed at helping the Iranian people take control of their government.

Tillerson said the U.S. was seeking to give “support for modern voices inside Iran” in a bid to bring about an eventual change of government.

Zarif said, “U.S. changed one elected govt in Iran— in 1953. It has tried a repeat since 79. Iranians not fooled by U.S. game & unmoved by fake sympathy.”

Zarif was referring the 1953 coup, engineered by U.S. and UK spy agencies, against the government of Iran’s then democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq.

Six decades after the notorious coup, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for the first time published a document in August 2013 confirming Washington’s role in the coup. 

He noted that the remarks once again depicted the true face of the United States for the Iranian nation.

‘Deceptive remarks’

On Thursday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry also called Tillerson’s remarks “impudent, deceptive and interventionist”, saying Washington cannot sow discord between the Iranian nation and government.

“The totalitarian and arrogant leaders of the United States must know that their attempt to create divisions between the people and the political and military authorities in our country is a desperate and fruitless attempt,” the ministry said in a statement.

MH/SP/PA