Threats would mean ‘official end’ of Iran, Trump warns in tweet

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump warned Sunday that threats from Iran against the United States would mark that nation’s “official end” — taking a sharply more aggressive tone after a rocket landed inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone near the U.S. Embassy amid increasing tensions in the region.

No one has claimed responsibility for the incident, which caused no injuries or serious damage, but suspicion among Iraqi officials and Western diplomats fell on one of the Shiite militias that draw their strength from Iranian support.

Hours earlier, a top Saudi diplomat said that Riyadh does not want war but will not hesitate to defend itself against Iran after the kingdom’s energy sector was targeted last week.

“If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran,” Mr. Trump tweeted Sunday afternoon. “Never threaten the United States again!”

That appeared to be a considerable shift in tone from the president’s remarks Thursday, when he responded “I hope not” after being asked whether the United States and Iran were headed toward war.

Mr. Trump, who announced last year that he would withdraw the United States from a landmark 2015 deal aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, has indicated privately in recent days that he prefers a diplomatic approach to defuse the renewed tensions in the Middle East.

Concerned that his more hawkish advisers could push the United States into a military confrontation, Mr. Trump has indicated that he wants to speak directly with Iranian leaders.

But his language Sunday echoes rhetoric he used against North Korea in 2017, when he warned of “fire and fury” against the regime of Kim Jong Un.

Meanwhile, Adel alJubeir, the Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, spoke a week after four oil tankers — two of them Saudi — were targeted in an alleged act of sabotage off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and days after Iran-allied Yemeni rebels claimed a drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline.

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not want war in the region and does not strive for that... but at the same time, if the other side chooses war, the kingdom will fight this with all force and determination and it will defend itself, its citizens and its interests,” Mr. al-Jubeir said.