Mohammad Reza Aref, Iran’s first vice president, has hit out against the US president over recent remarks about a lack of funding for social programmes in the United States, reports AL Jazeera.

US media outlets reported this week that Trump had said it wasn’t possible for his government to fund medical and child care because it is focused on military spending.

“Trump last night spoke about his inability to provide ‘childcare and healthcare’ for the American people, citing war as an excuse, and today he threatened Iran with destroying ‘power plants and bridges’,” Aref wrote on X.

“Someone who sacrifices their people’s welfare to threaten others is still stuck in the ‘Stone Age’. Iran, however, has chosen a different path: building, even under pressure.”

Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran back to the “Stone Ages”.