'Thank you Trump for showing real face of America': Khamenei

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday he was grateful to US President Donald Trump for revealing "the real face of America".

"We are thankful to this gentleman... he showed the real face of America," Khamenei was quoted by state-owned Press TV in a speech to military officers in Tehran.

"What we have said for more than 30 years -- that there is political, economic, moral and social corruption in the ruling system of the US -- this gentleman came and brought it out into the open in the election and after the election."

Khamenei said the Iranian people will be responding to the US President's recent anti-Iran threats on the upcoming anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"Trump says, 'Fear me!' No. The (Iranian) people will respond to these remarks on Bahman 22 and will show what position the Iranian people assume vis-a-vis threats," he said.

Ayatollah Khamenei was referring to the date on the Persian calendar coinciding with the anniversary of the February 11, 1979, Islamic Revolution, when the Iranian nation staged countrywide rallies celebrating the Revolution's victory.

Trump tweeted earlier this month that "Iran is playing with fire -- they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!"

"Iranians are not afraid of threats," Ayatollah Khamenei said.

Khamenei said: "The new US President says, 'You should be grateful to (former US President Barack) Obama! Why? Should we be thankful for the creation of Daesh (IS), the flames (of violence) in Iraq and Syria, and open support for the 2009 sedition (in Iran)?"

"It was him (Obama) who brought the crippling sanctions to the Iranian people," Ayatollah Khamenei said. "Of course, he fell short of his goal, and no enemy can cripple the Iranian people."

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with a number of commanders, officers, pilots, and staff members from Iran's Air Force and the country's Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defence Base.

The meeting took place on the anniversary of a historical development before the 1979 Revolution that saw Homafaran, air force officers in the monarchical Pahlavi regime, meeting with and pledging allegiance to Imam Khomeni, the founder of Iran.

--INAS

ahm/vt