Iranian supreme leader dismisses US officials as 'first-class idiots'

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed U.S. officials on Wednesday as "first-class idiots."

What are the details?

Khamenei made the comments while speaking in Qom, the religious capital of Iran. He's in Qom to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the riots that would eventually overthrow the Shah of Iran.

He referenced a U.S. official who had purportedly said that he would celebrate Christmas in Iran. Who this official is was not clear, but The Associated Press suggested that it could have been national security adviser John Bolton or Trump lawyer and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, based on similar comments that had both made in the past.

"Some U.S. officials pretend that they are mad," Khamenei said. "Of course, I don't agree with that, but they are first-class idiots."

The Jerusalem Post reported that Khamenei also ridiculed U.S. sanctions, saying that all they had accomplished was to "turn Iran into the region's unparalleled power today."

In November, the Trump administration announced that it was reimposing every sanction on Iran that had been lifted under the Obama administration.

"These sanctions hit at the core areas of Iran's economy," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the time. "They are necessary to spur changes we seek on the part of the regime."

Pompeo said that sanctions would only be lifted if the Iranian government changed its behavior and met certain conditions.

What else?

Khamenei is no fan of the Trump administration. In 2017, he criticized President Donald Trump for calling Iran a "terrorist" nation.

"The body of this man, Trump, will turn to ashes and become the food of the worms and ants, while the Islamic Republic continues to stand," he said.