Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has condemned attempts by foreign countries to provoke the US into a confrontation with Iran. The minister singled out Israel for cravenly "licking the boots" of the former administration of Donald Trump, adding that it would try to do the same with new US President Joe Biden just to get it on board the "confront Iran" train.
Zarif stated back on 2 January that, according to Iran's intelligence, Israel was purportedly planning a provocation to force the US to attack the Islamic Republic over "a fake casus belli". Tel Aviv denied Iran's allegations. The Iranian foreign minister still warned Trump, who was still president then, of such a possibility and cautioned him against falling for it, promising that an attempt to attack Iran would "backfire badly".
In his 21 January tweet, Zarif also alleged that terrorist bombings in Baghdad serve the same purpose. It is unclear if he referred to the twin suicide bombings that took place in Iraq's capital on the same day claiming the lives of 28 people and injuring 73 more.
Iran's Hopes for Better Relations With US Under Biden
The tweet by the minister follows his farewell message to Donald Trump in which Zarif expressed relief that the Republican POTUS is "relegated to the dustbin of history in disgrace" along with other members of his Cabinet who were responsible for the administration's anti-Iran policy, namely Mike Pompeo.
Zarif further expressed hope that the new administration of Joe Biden had "learned" from the mistakes of his predecessor. Biden indeed indicated in his pre-inauguration statements an intention to return to the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump abandoned in 2018, although it is not clear if the accord will look the same as the one the US signed in 2015.