Iran Says ‘No’ to Negotiations with US, as Trump Threatens Use of ‘Overwhelming Force’

Pictured Above: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during a visit to Semnan Province, Iran, on April, 17, 2016. Credit: Mohammad Reza Meysami via Wikimedia Commons.

(JNS) Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abbas Mousavi announced on Tuesday the “closing channel of diplomacy forever” to negotiations with the United States.

“Trump’s desperate administration is destroying the established international mechanisms for maintaining world peace and security,” he tweeted.

This was in response to U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to enact sanctions targeting Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his office.

As such, he announced over the weekend that he would enact “major” sanctions.

“Iran cannot have Nuclear Weapons! Under the terrible Obama plan, they would have been on their way to Nuclear in a short number of years, and existing verification is not acceptable. We are putting major additional Sanctions on Iran on Monday,” tweeted the president.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced that the United States will sanction Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif “later this week.”

Zarif tweeted on Monday that “the U.S. military has no business in the Persian Gulf.”

.@realDonaldTrump is 100% right that the US military has no business in the Persian Gulf. Removal of its forces is fully in line with interests of US and the world. But it’s now clear that the #B_Team is not concerned with US interests—they despise diplomacy, and thirst for war.

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 24, 2019

 

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) mockingly said on Monday that Zarif “can tweet from Tehran all he wants because when he faces sanctions later this week he is not going to be traveling to Europe, the United States to spend his people’s money in five-star restaurants anymore.”

The latest sanctions occurred as Iranian-allied Yemeni Houthi rebels killed one person and wounded seven in an attack on a Saudi Arabian airport on Sunday evening.

Trump called off retaliatory strikes against Iran last week for shooting down an American spy drone near the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump confirmed on Friday, saying that such a response was “not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.”

However, the United States conducted a cyber attack against Iran on Thursday, reported Yahoo News.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that the Trump administration is “suffering from mental disability” and acting as “no sane person.”

Trump responded to Rouhani on Tuesday, tweeting, “Iran leadership doesn’t understand the words “nice” or “compassion,” they never have. Sadly, the thing they do understand is Strength and Power, and the USA is by far the most powerful Military Force in the world, with 1.5 Trillion Dollars invested over the last two years alone.”

Iran leadership doesn’t understand the words “nice” or “compassion,” they never have. Sadly, the thing they do understand is Strength and Power, and the USA is by far the most powerful Military Force in the world, with 1.5 Trillion Dollars invested over the last two years alone.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2019

 

“The wonderful Iranian people are suffering, and for no reason at all. Their leadership spends all of its money on Terror, and little on anything else. The U.S. has not forgotten Iran’s use of IED’s & EFP’s (bombs), which killed 2000 Americans, and wounded many more,” he continued. “Iran’s very ignorant and insulting statement, put out today, only shows that they do not understand reality. Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration. No more John Kerry & Obama!”

…. Iran’s very ignorant and insulting statement, put out today, only shows that they do not understand reality. Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration. No more John Kerry & Obama!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2019