Iran has hit out at “hypocritical ingratiation of American statesmen” in offering congratulatory messages to Iranians on the new Persian year, while piling on their maximum pressure on the country at the same time.
“Iranians know their friends and enemies very well and are aware of the evil intentions behind these false and ridiculous shows,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani wrote on his social media account Thursday.
US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday issued separate Nowruz messages, with the American leader gloating that “the White House Haft-seen is decorated to reflect the promise of the new year”.
Haft-seen is an arrangement of seven symbolic items whose names start with the letter “s” pronounced as “seen”, the 15th letter in the Persian alphabet; “haft” is Persian for “seven”.
“It has been more than four decades that American statesmen, with hypocritical ingratiation and setting Haft-seen tables on the eve of Eid Nowruz and sending congratulatory Nowruz messages, have been increasing their maximum and all-round pressure against the noble nation of Iran at the same time,” Kan’ani said.
“Their annual new year gift for Iranians is an increase or imposition of new sanctions,” he added.
Kan’ani touched on the slogan of the year set by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as the year of “surge in production through people’s participation”, saying it is the roadmap of the government and the nation in the field of economy.
With the maximum realization of this roadmap, Kan’ani said, “the blunt blade of the cruel American sanctions will be broken and brighter horizons will be opened for the great nation of Iran”.
