Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, commander of Iran’s Basij militia, said that the language of the recently concluded nuclear agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPOA), shows that the United States holds a “deep grudge” against Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency reported today. The Basij militia is a subset of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“Any Iranian who reads the Vienna documents will hate the US 100 times more (than the past),” Naqdi said on Tuesday.

He also referred to the UN Security Council’s Resolution 2231 approved on Monday, and said, “All paragraphs of the resolution that the US proposed to the UNSC are full of enmity towards Iran and show the US deep grudge against the Iranian nation.”

“The US needs the agreement merely to legalize the sanctions and continue pressure against Iran,” Naqdi said, adding that Washington sees the agreement as a tool to provide the ground for military aggression against Iran.

Contrary to Naqdi’s assertion, resolution 2231 legitimizes Iran’s violations of previous U.N. Security Council resolutions that were precipitated by Tehran’s illicit nuclear program.

Naqdi’s remarks are the latest in a series of rhetorical attacks against the United States and the JCPOA that top Iranian officials have made in recent days. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari said yesterday that the JCPOA violated Iran’s “red lines” regarding its arms and missile capabilities. Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan said that he would refuse access to Iran’s military sites by international inspectors, contrary to the terms of the JCPOA. Dehghan’s comments were echoed by Ali Akbar Velayati, a top advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Over the weekend, Khamenei himself hailed Iranians who called for “death” to America and Israel. Today, The Times of Israel reported that Secretary of State John Kerry, who negotiated the JCPOA with Iran, found Khamenei’s remarks to be “disturbing.”

[Photo: Press TV / YouTube ]