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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during the New Year's speech. Handout via REUTERS

In his first political speech on the occasion of the Iranian New Year, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei violently criticized the Europeans by saying that we should not count on Europe.

With our correspondent in Tehran, Siavosh Ghazi

Ayatollah Khamenei, who delivered his traditional New Year's speech to thousands of faithful gathered in the holy city of Mashhad in the north-east of the country, was particularly hard on European countries. He denounced the lack of will of the European countries to face the United States who left the nuclear agreement in May 2018 and imposed new sanctions that hit the Iranian economy.

"Europeans did not resist the Americans"

" Not only did the Europeans not resist the Americans , but they themselves effectively left the nuclear deal, imposing new sanctions on Iran. The financial channel they created looks like a bitter joke. As in the past they stabbed us in the back, they betrayed us. Therefore, nothing can be expected from them, "said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The financial channel announced by the Europeans and which has not yet taken office is far from meeting the expectations of Iran. The country was counting on Europe to counter US sanctions and maintain trade relations with the rest of the world. Even the leaders of President Rohani's moderate government have criticized Brussels in recent weeks. But the speech of Ayatollah Khamenei marks a hardening towards the European countries.