DUBAI: Forty years after its revolution, Iran has no fear of a 鈥渄eclining鈥� America, a senior cleric said on Friday at the start of official commemorations of the uprising that made the country a permanent enemy of the US.

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a famously hard-line cleric who is the secretary of the Guardian Council, a body with huge influence over the way Iran is run, used his speech to mock the leadership of US President Donald Trump.

鈥淓ven many of America鈥檚 allies don鈥檛 listen to it anymore and they are not afraid of it,鈥� Jannati said at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who returned from exile in France to lead the revolution exactly 40 years ago.

鈥淎merica cannot manage its own affairs now,鈥� Jannati said in remarks carried by state television, adding that 鈥渕illions of people are hungry there and America鈥檚 power is in decline.鈥� He did not say what he was basing that assertion on.

The 1979 uprising deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a secular king allied to the West. Later that year, Iranian students stormed the US Embassy and held 52 Americans for 444 days 鈥� an affront to US pride that still colors how Iran is viewed from Washington.

Trump last year pulled out of an international agreement under which Iran curbed its nuclear work in exchange for a sanctions relief. The reimposed sanctions caused a currency crash, rampant inflation and added to investors鈥� hesitancy about doing business there.

Jannati, who opposed President Hassan Rouhani鈥檚 decision to negotiate away some of Iran鈥檚 nuclear rights, said: 鈥淯nfortunately, some of our officials believe that we cannot manage the country without America鈥檚 help. May such wrong thoughts be damned!鈥�

Among many programs on state TV featuring achievements since the revolution, was a short animation showing an Iranian-made Ghadir navy submarine surfacing near a US aircraft carrier and other vessels, which then inexplicably sink without any sign of an attack or explosion.