Iran will support Palestinian armed groups as much as it can, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, urging Palestinians to confront a U.S. plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

"We believe that Palestinian armed organizations will stand and continue resistance and the Islamic Republic sees supporting Palestinian groups as its duty," Khamenei said in a speech carried on his website.

"So it will support them however it can and as much as it can, and this support is the desire of the Islamic system and the Iranian nation."

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan last month which would set up a Palestinian state with strict conditions but allow Israel to take over long-contested Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian leaders have rejected it as bias toward Israel.

Trump's plan is to the detriment of America and Palestinians should confront the deal by forcing Israelis and Americans out through jihad, Khamenei said, according to his official website.

In a separate speech broadcast live on state TV, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Trump's Middle East peace plan is "the crime of the century."

Rouhani also accused the U.S. of committing economic terrorism. He said America was a terrorist and committed terrorist acts, pointing to economic sanctions.

He said the U.S. wants to make Iran surrender through unequal negotiations.

Tensions have spiked between Iran and the United States after top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, prompting the Islamic Republic to retaliate with missile attacks against U.S. bases in Iraq starting days later.

Addressing the nation, Khamenei also called for a high turnout in parliamentary elections on February 21.

"It's possible that someone doesn't like me but if they like Iran they must come to the ballot box," Khamenei said, noting that the elections could help solve Iran's international problems.

Last week, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lashed out at hard-liners over the mass disqualification of candidates for the election.

Iran's economy has been battered after Trump pulled out of a multilateral nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions.

(Cover: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a public gathering ahead of the 41st anniversary of the Islamic revolution, in Tehran, Iran, February 5, 2020. /Reuters Photo)