Iran warns US against making a 'strategic mistake' after Trump's threat

Amid a report of Iran planning to avenge the killing of its top commander Qassem Soleimani, Iran warned the United States of a “decisive response” if Washington makes a “strategic mistake”. The warning comes after US President Donald Trump threatened Iran that any attack would be met with a response of "1,000 times greater in magnitude."

"We hope that they do not make a new strategic mistake and certainly in the case of any strategic mistake, they will witness Iran's decisive response," Iran’s government spokesman Ali Rabiei told a televised news conference.

Politico reported on September 13 that US intelligence officials believe Iranian officials are planning to assassinate the US ambassador to South Africa to avenge the death of Soleimani. While the National Security Council is yet to make an official statement on the report, Trump wasted no time in issuing threat from his official Twitter account.

Citing the US media report, Trump tweeted that any retaliatory attack against the United States will be met with an “attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!” He also justified that the killing of Soleimani was a preemptive one to prevent a future attack on US troops. Trump has not explicitly confirmed or denied the report which is heavily based on intelligence sources. 

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The US-Iran relations

On January 3, the United States announced that it killed Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad’s international airport. The two countries have been at loggerheads for a long time, but Washington’s withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), also known as Iran nuclear deal worsened their relations. 

The US-Iran relations have hit the nadir as Washington has been pushing for an extension of an arms embargo on Iran which is set to expire in October. However, UN Security Council president Indonesia rejected the US move to trigger a return of all sanctions on Iran, saying it was not in the position to take further action.

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