Trump warns Iran ‘faces end’ if it threatens US again

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has warned Iran not to threaten America again, or it will face its “official end”.

Trump’s tweet came shortly after a rocket landed near the US embassy in Baghdad. The warning comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran, following Trump’s decision a year ago to pull America out of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

The US leader tweeted on Monday: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!” Neither Trump nor White House officials elaborated on the tweet.

The message came after a rocket landed less than a mile from the sprawling US embassy in Baghdad in the Iraqi capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Sunday night. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the rocket launch. Trump’s tweet came after he seemingly sought to soften his tone on Iran following days of heightened tension sparked by a sudden deployment of bombers and an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf over still-unspecified threats. While both Washington and Tehran say they do not seek war, many worry that any miscalculation at this moment could spiral out of control.

Iraqi military spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Rasoul said the rocket that landed near the US embassy was believed to have been fired from east Baghdad, an area home to Iranian-backed Shia militias.

Meanwhile, the US Navy’s 5th Fleet has announced it will begin “enhanced security patrols” in international waters with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Already, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge and others are in the Arabian Sea, close to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a third of all oil traded at sea passes.

Iran’s foreign minister responded with a tweet of his own in English. Mohammad Javad Zarif posted his own message on Twitter, saying Trump had been “goaded” into “genocidal taunts”. Zarif wrote Mr Trump “hopes to achieve what Alexander (the Great), Genghis (Khan) & other aggressors failed to do”.

He added: “Iranians have stood tall for a millennia while aggressors all gone.” He ended his tweet with #neverthreatenaniranian and: “Try respect — it works!”