Iran’s Supreme Leader Accuses Trump Of ‘Lying’ While Crowd Chants ‘Death To America’

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei slammed President Donald Trump in front of a crowd chanting “death to America” in recent comments as the United States tries to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran.

Khamenei accused Trump of lying about attempts to bring peace to the Middle East and said that the United States should leave the region. The supreme leader also referred to Israel as a “cancerous tumor” that needs to be “uprooted,” according to a translation of his comments by the Washington D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute.

“Some of the things the U.S. president said in his recent visit to the region are not even worthy of a response,” the supreme leader said Saturday in a video published and translated by the institute. “Trump said that he wanted to use power for peace. He is lying.”

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Trump Is Lying and His Statements Are Not Worth a Response; Israel Will Be Dismantled; Crowd Chants “Death to America” Multiple Times pic.twitter.com/STqgNBsSP5

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 18, 2025

In reaction to Khamenei’s comments throughout the roughly four-minute clip, the crowd of supporters alternately chant “death to America,” “death to England,” and “death to Israel.” The crowd also calls for “death to those who oppose the rule of the Jurisprudent,” a reference to the Islamic law that the Iranian regime is based on.

“[Trump] and other senior officials in the American administration have used power to perpetrate a massacre in Gaza, to stir up war wherever they could, and in order to support their mercenaries,” the supreme leader said. “When have they ever used power for peace?”

Khamenei then said that Iran intends to “increase our power.”

“Indeed, one can use power for peace and security. This is why we will increase our power and the power of our country every day whether the enemies like it or not, inshallah,” he said, according to the institute translation.

The Iranian supreme leader’s comments come after Trump completed a tour of Middle East countries, announcing agreements and commitments that will generate roughly $2 trillion in trade and investment. At the same time, the United States is attempting to strike a new deal with Iran to keep the regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that the Trump administration has drawn a “red line” at nuclear enrichment capabilities in its negotiations with Iran.

“We have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1% of an enrichment capability,” said Witkoff on ABC’s This Week. “We cannot have [enrichment] because enrichment enables weaponization, and we will not allow a bomb to get here.”

On negotiations with Iran for a new nuclear deal, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff tells @JonKarl that uranium enrichment is the Trump administration’s “one very, very clear red line.”

“We cannot have that. Because enrichment enables weaponization.” https://t.co/eXpYGKlkRR pic.twitter.com/WmauqQuAEV

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 18, 2025