Iranian Guard chief says U.S. ‘still the Great Satan’ 

The comments were made by Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari. He said that "the enmity against Iranian nation by the U.S. has not lessened and it has been increased."

The head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard said on Tuesday that the U.S. “is still the Great Satan,” regardless of the nuclear deal struck with Americans and world powers over the Islamic Republic’s contested nuclear program.

The comments were made by Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, reported by the official Guard website. He said that “the enmity against Iranian nation by the U.S. has not lessened and it has been increased.”

“We should not be deceived by the U.S.,” Gen. Jafari reportedly said. “It wants to infiltrate into Iran, resorting to new instruments and method.”

Suspicious of the U.S.

The Guard and hardliners remain suspicious of the U.S., even as authorities look over the historic accord that curbs Iran’s nuclear program in return to lifting economic sanctions.

Earlier Tuesday, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, the head of powerful Iran’s Experts Assembly, which oversees the nation’s Supreme Leader and institutions under his supervision, also said the nuclear deal would not alter Iran’s foreign policy toward the U.S.

‘Enemy No. 1’

“The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the U.S. its No. 1 enemy,” Ayatollah Yazdi said. “If you try to discover the root of the sedition that is happening around us today, you will identify U.S. as its main supporter.”

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the state news agency IRNA quoted Tehran’s police chief, Gen. Hossein Sajedinia, as saying his officers detained several people for distributing apparel bearing the flags of the U.S., Israel and Britain, as well as items bearing ‘Satanic symbols’. Such crackdowns on Western items are common in Iran.