February 15, 2019
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi has said the slogan “Death to America” is directed at US President Donald Trump and other American decision-makers, not the American people.
“‘Death to America’ means death to Trump, [national security adviser] John Bolton, and [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo. It means death to American rulers,” Khamenehi said in a February 8 speech to a gathering of Iranian Army Air Force officers marking the 40th anniversary of the 1979 revolution.
The slogan is regularly chanted at state-organized rallies and events, including Friday Prayers. And it has been chanted for 40 years, long before Trump became president and dating back to when Pompeo was a 16-year-old high school student.
“It means death to the few people running that country. We have nothing against the American people,” Khamenehi said, according to his official website.
Khamenehi has defended the chant several times in the past with the same argument, suggesting that he has heard people criticizing the chant as provoking the anger and hostility of the American public. There appears to be a growing number of Iranians complaining that the regime is causing problems for the country by unnecessarily sticking a finger in the eyes of foreigners.
Khamenehi reversed that, however, by saying Iran will not give up the “Death To America” chant as long as Washington continues its hostile policies toward Tehran. This reduced the dispute to a chicken/egg argument.
“As long as America continues its wickedness, interference, and savagery, the Iranian nation will not abandon ‘Death to America,’” said Khamenehi.
But Khamenehi didn’t attack just the United States for hostility—he also assailed the Europeans.
“I recommend that one should not trust the Europeans, just as the Americans,” Khamenehi said. “We don’t say, don’t have contacts with them, but it’s an issue of trust.”
Khamenehi said anti-riot police “attack protesters in the Paris streets and blind them. Then they have the audacity to make human rights requests of us.”
Last month, Jerome Rodrigues was hit in the face by a projectile while participating in an anti-government protest in Paris. He has not been blinded, but says he may lose sight in one eye.