CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State said on Tuesday the United States was drowning and “being run by an idiot”. 
 
 An Islamic State flag is seen in this picture illustration taken February 18, 2016. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo 
 
 In the first official remarks by the group referring to President Donald Trump since he took office, spokesman Abi al-Hassan al-Muhajer said: 
 
 “America you have drowned and there is no savior, and you have become prey for the soldiers of the caliphate in every part of the earth, you are bankrupt and the signs of your demise are evident to every eye.” 
 
 “... There is no more evidence than the fact that you are being run by an idiot who does not know what Syria or Iraq or Islam is,” he said in a recording released on Tuesday on messaging network Telegram. 
 
 Trump has made defeating Islamic State a priority of his presidency. 
 
 U.S.-backed forces are fighting to retake Islamic State’s two biggest cities - Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. 
 
 “Die of spite America, die of spite, a nation where both young and old are racing to die in the name of God will not be defeated,” al-Muhajer said. 
 
 Trump is examining ways to accelerate the U.S.-led coalition campaign that U.S. and Iraqi officials say has so far been largely successful in uprooting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. 
 
 The loss of Mosul, Islamic State’s last major stronghold in Iraq, would deal a major defeat to Islamic State. 
 
 U.S. and Iraqi officials are preparing for smaller battles after the city is recaptured and expect the group to go underground to fight as a traditional insurgency. ||||| Although members and supporters of the Islamic State have frequently commented on President Trump and his policies, analysts have been puzzled by the terrorist group’s official silence about him. Mr. Trump had not been mentioned in any of the group’s official media — all frequent venues for criticism or taunting of former President Barack Obama and other world leaders. 
 
 More than two months after Mr. Trump was sworn in as president, the Islamic State’s spokesman on Tuesday released the group’s first official statement on him, in an audio recording calling him an “idiot” and deriding his attacks on Muslims, among other claims. 
 
 Even then, Mr. Trump was only indirectly insulted rather than called out by name. 
 
 “America, you have drowned and there is no savior; you have become prey for the soldiers of the caliphate in every part of the Earth; you are bankrupt, and the signs of your demise are evident to every eye,” the spokesman said, according to a translation by Reuters. “There is no more evidence than the fact that you are being run by an idiot who does not know what Syria or Iraq or Islam is.” 
 
 Some terrorism experts have called some of Mr. Trump’s statements and policies — particularly his ban on visas for people from a selection of predominantly Muslim countries — a potential boon to propaganda by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. The group has long asserted that Muslims are victims of discrimination and abuse in the West, and supporters and members of the Islamic State have seized on some of Mr. Trump’s statements as evidence of hostility toward Muslims. ||||| The terror group ISIS in new audio released Tuesday called President Donald Trump an Arabic term that means "idiot" and said he doesn’t know anything about Islam, according to various translations. 
 
 It appears to be the first time the terror group has referred to Trump since he took office. ISIS controls parts of Iraq and Syria, and is currently being targeted by a U.S.-led coalition. 
 
 The 36-minute audio was released by ISIS’ spokesperson, Abu Hasan al-Muhajir. The previous spokesman and the group’s second-in-command, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, was killed in an airstrike in Syria last year, ISIS and the Pentagon have said. 
 
 The ISIS statement calls the United States "bankrupt" and says: "the sign of your elimination are now clearer to everyone, as the most clear of signs is that you are now ruled by a stupid idiot who does not know what Sham and Iraq are, or what Islam is, who continues to express his hatred and war against." 
 
 Other translations of the statement replaced "stupid idiot" with "riff raff" or "harebrained" 
 
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 Al-sham is a term the group uses to describe a region that includes Syria. One of the names used by ISIS is "the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, although it also calls itself Islamic State. Some opponents call it Daesh, which is seen a derogatory term in Arabic. 
 
 Trump has pledged to "totally obliterate ISIS," which swept across parts of Iraq in 2014. It also controls part of Syria, and its headquarters are in Raqqa. 
 
 Trump's opponent in the election, Hillary Clinton, and other critics have called Trump's statements on Islam and his plans to temporarily restrict entry to the United States from some predominantly Muslim nations as a gift to ISIS, which seeks to portray a battle between Islam and the West. 
 
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 The ISIS statement released Tuesday does not appear to directly refer to Trump's stated immigration policy executive order covering some Muslim nations, which critics have called a "travel ban." But the propaganda did say Trump has expressed his "hatred and war" against Islam.
– The Islamic State has delivered its first public pronouncement about President Trump, and it's one that mocks him as an "idiot." The translation from Reuters is as follows: "America you have drowned and there is no savior, and you have become prey for the soldiers of the caliphate in every part of the earth, you are bankrupt and the signs of your demise are evident to every eye." The spokesman continues: "There is no more evidence than the fact that you are being run by an idiot who does not know what Syria or Iraq or Islam is." The 36-minute audio does not specifically mention policies such as Trump's controversial travel ban, notes NBC News. Trump has vowed to "obliterate" ISIS, and the group's silence toward him until now had baffled those who keep tabs on the group—particularly because President Obama had been such a frequent target, reports the New York Times. The newspaper quotes a senior research fellow in London with a possible explanation: In a sense, he says, ISIS viewed Obama's more favorable standing among Muslims as more threatening. "They assumed that with [Obama] you need to tease out those subtleties. 'He calls Muslims part of American family, but he doesn’t really believe that.' Whereas with Trump, he openly declared Islam hates us. There are no subtleties to unmask."