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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran’s leader criticized the U.S. administration’s separation of immigrant parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border in comments published on his official website Wednesday.

“Seeing the images of the crime of separating thousands of children from their mothers in America makes a person exasperated,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, according to his website. “But the Americans separate the children from the immigrant parents with complete maliciousness.”

Khamenei regularly denounces U.S. government actions and has stepped up criticism after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from an agreement last month that gave Iran some relief from international sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

The remaining signatories to the landmark 2015 deal- Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain - have said they are determined to preserve the agreement.