Khamenei Adviser Calls Trump "The Devil," Iran Threatens US-Israel Banks
A senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Yahya Rahim Safavi, has delivered sharp criticism of US President Donald Trump amid heightened conflict between Iran, the United States, and Israel, reaffirming Tehran’s threats against Israel and economic targets of both nations.
In his remarks, Safavi launched pointed criticism at Trump. “Trump is the most corrupt and stupid American president,” Safavi said in a televised statement on the Iranian state broadcaster on Wednesday, 12 March. “He is the devil himself,” he added.
Safavi reiterated long-standing Iranian threats against Israel, which is currently engaged in conflict with Tehran alongside the United States. “In the Middle East, Israel and Iran cannot coexist. One of them must survive. It will be Iran that survives, and it is the Zionist regime that will be destroyed,” he stated.
On the same day, Iran’s military announced plans to expand attacks by targeting the economic interests of the United States and Israel across the Middle East. The threat emerged following a reported strike on a Tehran bank on Tuesday evening.
The statement was issued by Iran’s central military operational command, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, through state television. “The enemy has given us the freedom to target economic centres and banks belonging to the United States and the Zionist regime,” the statement read.
The military command also urged residents across the Middle East to stay at least one kilometre away from banks as a precautionary measure.
Iranian media reported that a strike by the United States and Israel hit a bank in Tehran on Tuesday evening, resulting in the deaths of several bank employees, though exact figures were not disclosed.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also condemned the attack. “The oldest branch of a bank in my country was bombed whilst full of employees,” Araghchi said via X (formerly Twitter). He affirmed that Iran’s military would retaliate. “Our powerful armed forces will respond to this crime,” he stated.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump stated that Washington must complete its military operations against Iran. Trump made the statement during a speech in Hebron, Kentucky, on Wednesday, hours after claiming that the war could end soon because the United States had nearly exhausted its targets in Iran. “We do not want to leave early, do we? We must finish this job,” Trump said when discussing US and Israeli military operations against Iran.