Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that 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 said in a speech to military officers in Tehran on Tuesday. 
 
 "[It was] 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." 
 
 He referred to the case of a young Iranian boy who was pictured in handcuffs at a US airport following Trump's ban on visas from Iran, among other countries. 
 
 "By what he does - handcuffing a five-year-old child - he shows the true meaning of American human rights," Khamenei said. 
 
 Iran is one of the seven predominantly Muslim countries that the Trump administration tried to ban from entering the US. The related executive order last week was frozen by the US judiciary and an appeals court is to hear Trump's latest arguments to reinstate the ban. 
 
 Khamenei also responded to Trump's tweet of February 3, when the US president said: "Iran is playing with fire - they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them." 
 
 He ridiculed the idea of being grateful to former President Barack Obama, saying he was the one who placed "paralysing sanctions" on Iran and helped create the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group through his destabilising actions in Iraq and Syria. 
 
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 "This is the first time the supreme leader, the highest authority in the republic, has directly responded to Donald Trump's comments and threats towards Iran [with] very strong words," Al Jazeera's Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Tehran, said. 
 
 Iranian President Hassan Rouhani earlier criticised Trump's statements regarding his country's nuclear deal with Washington and other major powers. 
 
 He called the nuclear agreement "a win-win agreement", in response to Trump, who said it was "the worst deal in history". 
 
 "The nuclear talks should be used as an example for other talks for stability and security in the region," he said. 
 
 World powers and Iran reached a landmark deal in July 2015 to curb the country's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. 
 
 Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that with Trump in the White House, Tehran faced "difficult days ahead" on the nuclear deal. 
 
 "I believe Trump may try to renegotiate" the deal, but "clearly, neither Iran, nor the Europeans or the international community will accept new negotiations," Zarif told Ettelaat newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday. 

 Story highlights Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei wants to 'thank this new guy in the White House' 
 
 He cites travel ban, attacks Trump over human rights 
 
 (CNN) Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday that he's grateful to President Donald Trump for showing "the true face of the US." 
 
 Khamenei told a gathering of Iran's air force commanders in Tehran that the new US administration has shown the world "the depth of corruption in US government," according to quotes published by Iran's semi-official MEHR news agency. 
 
 Khamenei reportedly told the commanders: "We however thank this new guy in the White House, since he largely did the job we had been trying to do in the past decades: to divulge the true face of the US. We had been working to show the world the depth of corruption in US government and ranks and files of the ruling elite; Trump did it in few days after coming to the White House." 
 
 He added: "Their claims to human rights are no longer tenable." 
 
 On anniv. of historic allegiance of Air Force officers with Imam Khomeini in Feb. 79, IRIAF commanders & staff met with Revolution's Leader. pic.twitter.com/FDHRoUt4nT — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) February 7, 2017 
 
 Khamenei also made an apparent reference to the five-year-old son of an Iranian mother who was detained at a US airport following Trump's ban on visas for seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran. 
 
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 Image copyright AFP Image caption Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was addressing military leaders in Tehran 
 
 Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says US President Donald Trump has shown "the real face of America". 
 
 In his first speech since Mr Trump took office, Mr Khamenei said the president had exposed "political, economic, moral and social corruption" in the US. 
 
 The response follows Mr Trump's imposition of new sanctions on Iran over a ballistic missile test. 
 
 Mr Trump has also been a fierce critic of the landmark nuclear deal struck between Iran and world powers in 2015. 
 
 Mr Khamenei, addressing military commanders in the capital Tehran, said Mr Trump was trying to frighten Iranians, but would fail. 
 
 "We are thankful for this person who has arrived [President Trump]. Our thanks is for making our life easy as he showed the real face of America," he said. 
 
 "What we have been saying for more than 30 years about the political, economic, moral and social corruption in the US ruling system, this person arose during the election campaign and... has confirmed it." 
 
 Mr Khamenei called on Iranians to turn out in large numbers on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution. 
 
 His speech comes amid an escalating war of words between Iran and the US. 
 
 Media caption Iran showed off its air defences last week as tensions rose 
 
 US Defence Secretary James Mattis recently called Iran the world's "biggest state sponsor of terrorism". 
 
 Iran confirmed last week it had tested a missile but denied violating a UN Security Council resolution on its nuclear activities. 
 
 A US statement said Iran's "continued support for terrorism and development of its ballistic missile programme poses a threat to the region". 
 
 In a tweet, President Trump accused Iran of playing with fire, adding: "They don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me." 
 
 Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday he believed that Mr Trump would try to renegotiate the nuclear deal but that "Iran and European countries will not accept that". 
 
 "We will have difficult days ahead," he told the Ettelaat newspaper. 
 
 Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its sensitive nuclear activities in return for the lifting of economic sanctions.
– Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says he's glad President Trump has shown "the real face of America," Al Jazeera reports. According to CNN, the supreme leader of Iran noted the country's leaders had been trying for decades to prove the US government's corruption and Trump, who he referred to as "this new guy," managed to do it within days of taking office. Khamenei was making his first speech since Trump became president Tuesday in front of military officers in Tehran, the BBC reports. Khamenei also brought up a 5-year-old Iranian boy who was handcuffed at an airport in the wake of Trump's immigration and refugee ban. He said photos of the boy in cuffs "show the true meaning of American human rights." He said America's stated positions on human rights "are no longer tenable." In the wake of a recent Iranian missile test, Trump tweeted at the country and issued new sanctions, but Khamenei said the president will be unable to scare Iranian citizens.