TEHRAN – Iran's Foreign Ministry has denounced U.S. officials’ “duplicitous and opportunist” support for recent gatherings in protest against economic conditions in some Iranian cities.

“The great Iranian nation regards the opportunist and duplicitous support of the American officials for certain gatherings over the recent days in some Iranian cities as nothing but [part of] the deceit and hypocrisy of the U.S. administration,” ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Saturday.

He condemned the “cheap, worthless and invalid” remarks by U.S. officials and said, “The Iranian people attach no value to the opportunistic remarks by American officials and [President Donald] Trump himself.”

Qassemi emphasized that the Iranian people are the main pillar of the country's security and progress.

In a tweet on Friday, Trump made meddlesome remarks about the recent gatherings in protest against economic conditions in Iran and said the Iranian government should “respect their people’s rights, including right to express themselves. The world is watching!”  

The U.S. reaction was made after groups of Iranian protesters held rallies in several cities this week to voice their anger over rising prices and unemployment.

Qassemi further said the noble Iranian nation is closely monitoring Trump’s active role in human rights violations in Palestine, Yemen and Bahrain.

The nation also remembers Trump’s “spiteful” bids to bar Iranians from entry to the United States and “the arrest of many Iranians residing in that country under baseless pretexts,” he added.

“The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran has envisaged democratic structures to legally protect people’s civil demands, and it is completely possible to follow up on these demands within the framework of law,” the Foreign Ministry official explained.

The spokesperson pointed to nearly 70 years of interference of different U.S. administrations in the Islamic Republic's internal affairs and said, “American officials are not in a position to sympathize with the great and wise Iranian nation.”

(Source: Press TV)