Published 19:38 IST, April 2nd 2020
Iran Foreign Minister hits out at Donald Trump, says it has friends not 'proxies'
Iran shot back at US President Donald President after the latter hinted at a possible attack on American troops, stationed in Iraq, by Tehran or its “proxies”.
Iran shot back at US President Donald Trump after the latter hinted at a possible attack on American troops, stationed in Iraq, by Tehran or its “proxies”. Iranian Finance Minister Javad Zarif took to Twitter asking Trump not to be misled by “usual warmongers” and said that Iran has friends since no country can have “millions of proxies”. Zarif accused the United States of surreptitiously lying, cheating and assassinating and said that Iran acts only in “self-defence”.
Earlier, Trump had said that his administration had received intelligence inputs that Iran is planning to strike US interests in Iraq. US troops and other Coalition forces stationed at military bases in Iraq are being continuously being targeted by armed militia allegedly backed by Iran.
'Missed historic opportunity'
The heightened tension between the US and Iran has led to crippling economic sanctions on Tehran by Washington. Amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the United States missed a historic opportunity to lift the economic sanctions and apologise for their “wrongdoing”. During a televised cabinet meeting on April 1, Rouhani said that the Americans did not learn a lesson even in these “harsh global conditions”.
Calling the sanctions cruel and illegal, Rouhani highlighted that the coronavirus crisis is not confined to one region and even one country lagging behind in the fight would impact the whole world. His comments came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted that Washington might consider easing sanctions on Iran.
Updated 19:38 IST, April 2nd 2020