Iran’s Foreign Ministry has shot back at Donald Trump over his recent F-bomb-laden rant, with a ministry spokesman stressing that Iranians wouldn’t be “intimidated” by US threats.
“The Iranian people aren’t intimidated by the bullying rhetoric of the failing and lawless US regime,” spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh tweeted.
“Our people leave no stone unturned in defending Iran’s dignity. WE will choose response to US crimes – including sadistic sanctions and criminal assassination of ISIS* #1 enemy Gen. [Qasem] Soleimani,” the official added, referring to the January 2020 killing of a senior Iranian military commander in Baghdad by a US drone.
Khatibzadeh’s comments were echoed by Iranian UN mission spokesman Alireza Miryousefi, who called Trump’s words an “unsurprising... attempt to portray himself as a tough guy [using] empty rhetoric” as the presidential election looms.
Speaking to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh on Friday, Trump laid into Iran, threatening to “do things…that have never been done before” if Tehran “f***[s] around with us.” Trump did not clarify what specifically the US might do.
Earlier this year, Trump threatened to wipe out 52 Iranian targets, including places “important to Iran and the Iranian culture,” if the country responded to the assassination of Soleimani by striking Americans or American assets.
Several days after Trump made the threat, Tehran launched retaliatory missile strikes against two US military bases in Iraq, leaving more than 100 US personnel with traumatic brain injuries.
Since then, the countries have repeatedly come to the brink of war. Last year, Washington sent a carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf, and then accused Iran of targeting multiple tankers in the Persian Gulf in sabotage attacks. Tehran vigorously denied the claims. In June 2019, Iranian air defence troops shot down a $220 million US spy drone, prompting Trump to consider strikes against the country before backing down at the last moment. In April 2020, the US Navy complained about small Iranian gunboats "harassing" its warships as they traversed the Persian Gulf, with Washington threatening to blow the boats out of the water if the "harassment" continued. In July 2020, Iran accused US fighter jets of pestering a Mahan Air jetliner as it flew through Syrian airspace on a Lebanon-bound flight. Several passengers were injured after the plane was forced to take evasive manoeuvres.
* aka Daesh, a Wahhabi terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.