President Trump’s Holiday Greeting To Iranian People: Your Gov’t Is ‘Brutal And Corrupt’

U.S. President Donald Trump marked Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebrated on March 20, by conveying a message directly to Iranian citizens—in which he denounced the “brutal” regime in Tehran as “rulers who serve themselves instead of serving the people.” The American leader took specific aim at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which he said spent $16 billion dollars propping up Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in addition to financially supporting Iran’s Shiite proxies from Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen. This, as the average Iranian family has lost 15 percent of its wealth over the past decade and while nearly one-third of Iran’s youth is unemployed. President Trump also reiterated his support for Iranian protesters who took to the streets nationwide earlier this year in opposition of their government, affirming that they “are fighting to reclaim their rights.” The holiday message comes as Washington is working to amend the 2015 nuclear accord, which the U.S. president has described as “disastrous.” According to reports, European parties to the agreement have expressed a willingness to impose new sanctions on Tehran—targeting its regional adventurism and ballistic missile program—in a bid to stave off President Trump’s prospective withdrawal from the pact in May.