Iran’s supreme leader mocks US over Charlottesville

TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei joined the international criticism of race-related violence in the United States on Wednesday with a mocking tweet.

"If US has any power, they better manage their country, tackle #WhiteSupremacy rather than meddle in nations’ affairs. #Charlottesville," Khamenei’s official Twitter feed posted. Khamenei’s office was responding to the furore in the US over an attack in Charlottesville by a suspected Nazi sympathiser, who ploughed his car into anti-racism protesters, leaving one dead and 19 injured.

US President Donald Trump has raised another huge controversy by saying there was "blame on both sides". The deepening divisions in US society have provided ample fodder for the Islamic republic to deflect allegations of human rights abuses in its own country, and turn the criticism back on its traditional enemy.

Earlier, the foreign ministry accused Washington of hypocrisy for its annual report on religious freedom, which was published on Tuesday and sharply criticised Iran.

"It is clear that religious and racial discrimination, Islamophobia, and xenophobia are a widespread and frequent phenomenon among American politicians," spokesman Bahram Ghasemi hit back on the ministry’s website.