TRUMP HITS BACK AT IRAN ‘WAR’ TALK
US president intensifies campaign against Islamic republic
PRESIDENT Donald Trump on Sunday hit back at bellicose comments by Iran’s president, warning him of consequences “the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered,” as the United States intensifies its campaign against the Islamic republic.
“Never, ever threaten the US again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before,” Trump said on Twitter in a direct message to President Hassan Rouhani, who earlier warned Trump not to “play with the lion’s tail”, saying that conflict with Iran would be the “mother of all wars”.
Trump, writing his entire message in capital letters, continued his riposte:
“WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE AND DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!”
The high-stakes verbal sparring is reminiscent of the exchanges Trump had last year with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, before the two leaders met in a historic summit last month.
Trump has made Iran a favourite target since his rapprochement with nuclear-armed North Korea. His comments came after his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a major address to the Iranian diaspora in California, said Washington was not afraid to sanction top-ranking leaders of the “nightmare” Iranian regime.
Trump in May pulled the US out of a hard-won agreement with Teheran, also signed by Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, which lifted sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme.
The 2015 agreement was in response to fears that Iran was developing a nuclear bomb.
European allies maintained their support for the deal and vowed to stay in it, though their businesses fear US penalties.
Following Washington’s pullout Pompeo unveiled Washington’s tougher line under which, he said, the US would lift its new sanctions if Iran ended its ballistic missile programme and interventions in regional conflicts from Yemen to Syria.
“You cannot provoke the Iranian people against their own security and interests,” Rouhani said in a televised speech on Sunday, ahead of Pompeo’s address. Rouhani repeated his warning that Iran could shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for international oil supplies.
“Peace with Iran would be the mother of all peace and war with Iran would be the mother of all wars,” Rouhani said.
Pompeo announced an intensified American propaganda campaign, with the launch of a multimedia channel with 24-hour coverage on television, radio, and social media.
This will ensure that “ordinary Iranians inside Iran and around the globe can know that America stands with them,” he said.
Regularly suspected of favouring regime change in Iran, Pompeo refused to distinguish between moderates and radicals at the heart of the Islamic republic.
“Our hope is that ultimately the regime will make meaningful changes in its behaviour both inside Iran and globally,” he said.