On Wednesday, National of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan denied leading chants of “Death to America” while on a solidarity trip to Iran, claiming he had merely asked how to pronounce the phrase in Farsi.
“I never led a chant calling for death to America,” he declared. “To say otherwise is a blatant falsehood and an attempt to paint me as an enemy in a very dangerous time as tension rises between America and Iran and nations around the earth reject unjust sanctions and heavy-handed U.S. foreign policy.
“My point was to engage students in a talk about what gives a nation perpetuity versus that which undermines and destroys a nation… [I]f Iran is moving as a nation to obey God’s law, to respect and educate women and to pursue righteousness, she is on a right course.”