Zarif Castigates US Inconsistencies

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday criticized US President Donald Trump's administration for its inconsistent behavior, after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed that Iran is not doing enough to support the Palestinians.

Zarif posted a tweet calling the Trump administration's description of Iran's regional policies "truly comical", Sputnik news agency reported.

While Washington accuses Tehran of using its resources to finance terrorism in other countries, the White House is now suggesting that Iran is not putting enough money toward financial aid for the Palestinians, Zarif said.

"Trump regime flip-flops are truly comical. One week, its talking point is that we are 'squandering' our resources abroad, the next week it's that we've not financially supported the Palestinians," the foreign minister wrote.

Zarif's reaction came after Pompeo claimed that Iranian leaders finance terrorism and donate only small amounts of money to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which works in the Palestinian territories as a humanitarian aid organization.

Trump had earlier accused Iran of "squandering" the nation's wealth to fund terrorism abroad.

This is while the US president recently ordered that $25 million earmarked for the care of the Palestinians in East Beit ul-Moqaddas (East Jerusalem) hospitals be directed elsewhere as part of a review of aid, according to Reuters.

Although the officially stated reason for suspending US aid to Palestine is "to ensure the funds were being spent in accordance with US national interests and were providing value to taxpayers," Trump later said he had stopped the aid to force the Palestinians to accept Israel's version of what a peace treaty between the two nations would look like, according to CBS News.

Trump is reportedly planning to roll out his Middle East peace plan during a September UN General Assembly meeting and will introduce new guidelines for both Israel and the Palestinians. The last attempt for peace talks brokered by the US, in 2014, ended without an agreement.