Iran mocks Donald Trump, says White House is 'afflicted by mental retardation'

Iran on Tuesday sharply criticised new US sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic's supreme leader and other top officials, saying the measures spell the "permanent closure" for diplomacy between the two nations.



For his part, Iran's president described the White House as "afflicted by mental retardation".

President Hassan Rouhani went on to call the sanctions against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "outrageous and idiotic", especially as the 80-year-old Shiite cleric has no plans to ever travel to the United States.

"The fruitless sanctions on Iran's leadership and the chief of Iranian diplomacy mean the permanent closure of the road of diplomacy with the frustrated US administration," said Abbas Mousavi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.