Iran’s foreign minister Saturday discounted the prospect of a new war in the region because Tehran opposed it and no party was under the “illusion” the Islamic republic could be confronted.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been on the riseas the United States has deployed a carrier group and B-52 bombers over what ittermed Iranian “threats”.
“We are certain… There will not be a war sinceneither we want a war nor does anyone have the illusion they can confront Iranin the region,” Mohammad Javad Zarif told state-run news agency IRNA atthe end of a visit to China.
US President Donald “Trump does not want war but thepeople around him are pushing him towards war under the pretext of makingAmerica stronger against Iran,” Zarif added.
Iran-US relations hit a new low last year as US Trump pulledout of a 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed unilateral sanctions that had beenlifted in exchange for Tehran scaling back its nuclear programme.
The head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards saidSaturday that the country is currently locked in a “full-scale war ofintelligence” with the US.
“This is a combination of psychological warfare, cyberoperations, military mobility, public diplomacy and instilling fear,”semi-official news agency ISNA quoted Hossein Salami as saying.”America’s majesty is on decline and it isabout to reach its end, and at the same time, we must watch out for probabledangers in such circumstances,” he said.