Senior cleric says he wants to impeach Trump over Iran policies

A member of Iran's Assembly of Experts has called for the impeachment of US President Donald Trump during Tehran’s Friday prayers, condemning his policies against Tehran.

“In this public gathering, I want to impeach Trump,” Ahmad Khatami, who also serves as Tehran's interim Friday prayer leader, said. “For 45 years, they have tried maximum pressure on Iran, and they have achieved nothing. Their pressure only brings maximum hatred from the Iranian people.”

Khatami, formerly a member of the Assembly of Experts presidium, was also once a prominent figure in the influential Supreme Council of Seminaries, responsible for setting policies and overseeing different programs for the Qom seminary and other affiliated Shiite seminaries. Though he has been sidelined from these key institutions, Iran's government-controlled online media widely covered his remarks.

The cleric blasted Trump’s foreign policy, particularly his opposition to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and his administration’s stance on Iran. “Trump called the IRGC terrorists, but they are our heroes, defending our nation from the terror networks America created,” he said.

On February 4, Trump signed a directive reviving his maximum pressure policy from his first term, aiming to drive Iran’s oil exports to zero. This strategy, originally launched in 2018, had severely battered Iran's economy, causing a sharp drop in oil exports and a surge in inflation. After signing the directive, Trump said he preferred a deal with Tehran over an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites.

In response, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed on Wednesday that Iran would not bow to threats. “We will never yield to pressure or intimidation,” Pezeshkian said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei praised President Masoud Pezeshkian for rejecting talks with the United States, emphasizing that Tehran must continue advancing its military capabilities in the face of Trump’s threat to halt Iran's nuclear program by force.

“The president said what needed to be said,” Khamenei said during an address to defense officials.

After weeks of mixed signals about potential negotiations and tensions within Tehran's political landscape, Khamenei made his stance unequivocally clear on February 7, saying that talks with the US are “neither smart, nor wise, nor honorable.”