Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was enraged by Mr Trump’s statement which criticised Tehran in its opening paragraphs.
The US President’s statement began: “The world is a very dangerous place!
“The country of Iran, as an example, is responsible for a bloody proxy war against Saudi Arabia in Yemen, trying to destabilise Iraq’s fragile attempt at democracy, supporting the terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon, propping up dictator Bashar Assad in Syria (who has killed millions of his own citizens), and much more.”
Mr Zarif’s posted his furious response on social media.
He tweeted: “Mr Trump bizarrely devotes the FIRST paragraph of his shameful statement on Saudi atrocities to accuse IRAN of every sort of malfeasance he can think of.”
He then referred to Mr Trump’s unfavourable comparison of forestry management in wildfire-ravaged California and Finland, adding: “Perhaps we’re also responsible for the California fires, because we didn’t help rake the forests – just like the Finns do?”
Iran and Saudi Arabia are regional rivals and have supported opposing sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen and different political factions in Iraq and Lebanon.
But Iran and Hezbollah deny supporting terrorism, Tehran denies arming Yemen’s Houthi militia while accusing Saudi-backed forces of killing civilians there, and Iranian-trained Shi’ite paramilitaries helped Iraq’s government to reverse the Islamic State militant group’s seizure of swathes of Iraqi territory.
Mr Trump’s statement included a pledge to stay a “steadfast partner” of Riyadh despite acknowledging Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have known about the plan to murder Mr Khashoggi in Istanbul.
He said he would not destroy the global economy by being tough on Saudi Arabia over the 57-year-old Washington Post columnist even though the CIA believes the murder was ordered by that Prince Mohammed.
The President said: “The crime against Jamal Khashoggi was a terrible one, and one that our country does not condone.
“Indeed, we have taken strong action against those already known to have participated in the murder.
“After great independent research, we now know many details of this horrible crime. We have already sanctioned 17 Saudis known to have been involved in the murder of Mr Khashoggi and the disposal of his body.
“Representatives of Saudi Arabia say that Jamal Khashoggi was an ‘enemy of the state’ and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood but my decision is in no way based on that – this is an unacceptable and horrible crime.
“King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder of Mr Khashoggi.
“Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event.
“Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”