Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif fired back at Donald Trump on Monday, calling the US president’s Sunday threat via Twitter unimpressive.
“COLOR US UNIMPRESSED: The world heard even harsher bluster a few months ago,” Zarif wrote in a tweet. “And Iranians have heard them — albeit more civilized ones — for 40 yrs.”
“We’ve been around for millennia & seen fall of empires, [including] our own, which lasted more than the life of some countries. BE CAUTIOUS!” he added.
Zarif’s comments come just one day after Trump warned Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that the country would suffer “consequences” if it continued to threaten the US.
“To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE,” Trump wrote. “WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!”
Trump was responding to remarks Rouhani made to a group of Iranian diplomats that suggested POTUS should not “play with the lion’s tail [as] this would only lead to regret.”
“America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars,” Rouhani said, Reuters reported, citing state news agency IRNA. And apparently firing back at reports that the US was actively trying to destabilize Iran’s leadership, he said, “You are not in a position to incite the Iranian nation against Iran’s security and interests.”
Zarif is not the only state official to have chimed in on the Twitter feud. Also on Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo compared the Iranian government to the ‘mafia’.
Source: Agencies
