TEHRAN - The Iranian Foreign Ministry has criticized US President Barack Obama for his remarks on Iran’s policy towards Washington and Tel Aviv.

“The US president has overlooked the trends and realities of the past four decades in the Iranian society,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Thursday.

Obama said earlier this week that Iran’s policies against the US and Israel have made the country “a pariah in the eyes of a large part of the world.”

He further noted that “Iran would just by virtue of its size, talent, [and] resources, immediately rise in its influence and its power in the eyes of the world” if it changes its policies against the US and Israel.

“Iran’s might and position [in the world] is not only dependent on its ancient Iranian and Islamic culture and civilization, but also on the Iranian people’s resistance against hegemony and threat as well as their support for oppressed nations,” she added.

Afkham refuted Obama’s claim that Iran is a “pariah” in the world, saying, “From our and many other free nations’ point of view, the Zionist regime [of Israel] and its supporters are isolated and a pariah in the international community, and what needs change is the US policy and administrative system and its approach towards independent nations.”

Afkham stated that the US “has been the cause and supporter of warmongering, insecurity and instability in our region.”(PressTV)