(Bloomberg) -- Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, denounced deadly U.S. airstrikes that targeted an Iran-backed Iraqi militia and warned U.S. President Donald Trump that the Islamic Republic is poised to hit back against any direct retaliation from Washington.
Anyone who threatens Iran will be confronted “unhesitatingly,” Khamenei said in a speech today shown on state television. Trump blamed Iran for an assault Tuesday on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq by militiamen and their supporters, and said Tehran will pay “a very big price.”
Earlier on Wednesday Khamenei tweeted the same comments in a rare Twitter spat with the U.S. leader. The two countries have long competed for influence in Iraq.
Iran’s economy is under intense pressure from U.S. sanctions and the government is struggling to contain widespread anger at worsening living standards. Last month unrest erupted across the country over an increase in fuel prices, triggering the bloodiest crackdown on dissent since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
While officials, including Khamenei, have condemned the protesters and “rioters” as being part of a foreign plot to bring down the Islamic Republic, he struck a more conciliatory tone in his speech.
“People have economic demands, mostly rightful ones,” he said. “In the events of November, people had demands, but the enemy had prepared agents to cause sedition. It used the opportunity to harm the country.”
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