Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has condemned “the insult to” Pope Leo XIV, saying that the desecration of Jesus is not acceptable.

While Pezeshkian did not specify the context of his condemnation, it came after US President Donald Trump criticised Pope Leo as “terrible” in a rare direct attack on the pontiff.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social late on Sunday.

He later posted an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus, with the US flag and the Statue of Liberty in the background.’

The US president’s comments came after the pope had spoken out, with growing force, against the US-Israeli war on Iran and the Trump administration’s immigration policies.