Top Irani diplomat Javed Zarif on September 19 warned the United States and Saudi Arabia that any attack on Iran will spark an 'all-out war'. The statement came at the time when the US and Saudi are expected to respond to the drone and missile strike on the latter's oil infrastructure on September 14. The Saudi attack made a strong impact on the global energy markets with a halt in 5% of the world's total oil supply. The comment by the Foreign Minister is undoubtedly the strongest warnings Iran has made over the years. It is assumed that the remarks by Zarif were targetted at US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who called the Saudi attack an 'act of war'

READ: Iran Warns US Of Response To Any Action Over Saudi Attack

"Iran will defend itself", warns Zarif

Zarif while speaking to foreign media said, “I think it is important for the Saudi government to understand what they’re trying to achieve. Do they want to fight Iran until the last American soldier? Is that their aim?”. He then warned, “They can be assured that this won’t be the case ... because Iran will defend itself”. When the media asked him what will be the result if there is a strike by America or Saudi. Zarif replied to the question by saying, “an all-out war”. The Tehran diplomat was all set to travel to the US on September 20. He said that the country is willing to have peace talks and have hopes of avoiding conflicts. “I’m making a very serious statement that we don’t want war. We don’t want to engage in a military confrontation”, he said. He also said, "We believe that a military confrontation based on deception is awful”. The Iranian envoy then said that there will be a lot of casualties but it won't stop them to defend their nation if there is an attack. 

READ: Mike Pompeo Says US Backs Saudi Arabia’s ‘right To Defend Itself’

Pompeo reacts

Mike Pompeo while on a visit to the United Arab Emirates to meet the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, reacted on the Iranian diplomat's comments saying, “I was here (doing) active diplomacy while the foreign minister of Iran is threatening all-out war to fight to the last American”. Pompeo said that he was hopeful that the middle eastern country would go for peace instead of violence but he is doubtful about that. “There are still those today who think, ‘Boy, if we just give Iran just a little bit more money they’ll become a peaceful nation,’” he said. “We can see that that does not work”. 
A spokesperson at Iran’s mission to the United Nations on Thursday stated that the Iranian diplomat and President Hassan Rouhani received American visas in order to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York. 

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(With inputs from AP)