Annual Speech Reveals Trump's Ignorance

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denounced US President Donald Trump's ignorant policies on Iran and the Middle East, after the Iran hawk reaffirmed his support for December's anti-government protests in Iran.

"Trump again confirms his ignorance of Iran & region. Everyone knows where he stands; and it's certainly not with Iranians. His 'virtuous', 'democratically- elected' clients in our region may cheer, but not those on receiving end of their tyranny & weapons, incl Yemeni children," Zarif said in a twitter feed on Wednesday.

Delivering his first State of the Union address to a joint session of the US Congress a day earlier, Trump reiterated his backing for the protestors who took to the streets of Iranian cities in late December to demonstrate against the poor economic performance of President Hassan Rouhani.

When the people of Iran staged anti-government rallies, "I did not stay silent," he said. "America stands with the people of Iran in their courageous struggle for freedom," Trump was quoted as saying by RFE/RL.

The demonstrations initially were peaceful but it did not take long before reports of sporadic clashes between the marchers and riot police came out.

The riots left 25 people dead in total and were put down after one week.

Trump called on the US Congress to help pass legislation to fix the 2015 nuclear deal that lifted economic sanctions against Tehran in exchange for time-bound curbs on its nuclear program.

***Perceived Flaws

"I am asking congress to address the fundamental flaws in the terrible Iran nuclear deal," Trump said.

Trump and many Republicans have routinely criticized the deal, which was negotiated by his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama.

The Republican president has blamed Obama particularly for failing to drive a harder bargain during the nuclear negotiations and get Tehran to roll back its missile development and regional clout too.

He agreed on Jan. 12 to waive US nuclear-related sanctions but warned it was the "last chance" to fix the deal, demanding that US lawmakers and European allies draw up a side deal imposing restrictions on Iran's non-nuclear activities.

Trump has stopped short of tearing up the deal altogether, a move some analysts feared could lead Iran to quickly restore its pre-deal nuclear activities, which it says are totally peaceful and have never been meant to produce a nuclear bomb, as claimed by the West.