Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi called on hawkish US President Donald Trump to abandon the destructive West Asia policies of his predecessors instead of leveling baseless allegations that Tehran stokes the fires of conflict and terror.
"Washington should stop its policy of warmongering, meddling, [spreading] Iranophobia and selling dangerous weapons to the main patrons of terrorism," Qasemi said in a statement carried by IRNA on Monday.
It came a day after Trump ended a visit to Saudi Arabia where arms and investment deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars were signed.
During his first visit abroad as president (some say as top arms dealer), Trump stressed his desire to curb "Iran's influence" in the region.
"For decades, Iran has fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror," he claimed, urging governments to work toward isolating Iran, Reuters reported.
"Once again, by his repetitive and baseless claims about Iran, the American president by spreading Iranophobia tried to push countries in the region to buy more weapons," Qasemi said.
Trump's attack on Iran came shortly after the crucial presidential election on Friday, in which pragmatist Hassan Rouhani, a staunch supporter of greater engagement with the world, was reelected with a wide margin.
The spokesman said the US and its allies "should know that Iran is a democratic, stable and powerful country" and that it promotes "peace, good neighborliness and a world opposed to violence and extremism."
Qasemi said Washington was "reinvigorating terrorists in the region by its hostile policies" and "should stop selling arms to dangerous terrorists."
***Milking Oil Kingdom
The allegations also draw a retort from Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who said they were aimed at "milking" Saudi Arabia.
"Iran —fresh from real elections— attacked by @POTUS [Trump] in that bastion of democracy & moderation. Foreign Policy or simply milking KSA of $480B?" Zarif tweeted on Sunday, referring to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is US arms dealers' top client and Washington's number one ally in the strategic Middle East.
Before Trump's anti-Iran rhetoric, the ageing Saudi King Salman, under whose watch the Arab state has become extremely aggressive and hostile toward Tehran, described the country as a mutual foe and source of terrorism the US and the kingdom must confront together.
