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President of the United States, Donald Trump
PHOTO: Gallo Images / Getty Images
- Donald Trump promised that any attack by Iran would have a response “1000 times greater in magnitude.”
- This follows reports that Iran plans to avenge the assassination of Senior General Qasem Soleimani and is plotting to assassinate the US ambassador to South Africa.
- Relations between the United States and Iran have been strained since the Iranian revolution, and in January, a US drone strike killed Soleimani in Baghdad.
US President Donald Trump promised on Monday that any attack by Iran would have a response “1000 times greater in magnitude”, following reports that Iran was planning to avenge the assassination of senior general Qasem Soleimani.
A US media report, citing unidentified officials, said that an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the US ambassador to South Africa was planned ahead of the November presidential elections.
“According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination or other attack against the United States in retaliation for the murder of terrorist leader Soleimani,” Trump tweeted.
“Any attack by Iran, in whatever form, against the United States will be met with an attack against Iran that will be 1000 times greater in magnitude!”
Relations between Washington and Tehran have been strained since the Iranian revolution and have skyrocketed since Trump unilaterally withdrew from a landmark international nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018.
In January, a US drone strike killed Soleimani in Baghdad, and Washington is pushing to extend an arms embargo on Iran that begins to phase out in October, as well as to reimpose UN sanctions on the republic. Islamic.
Iran denies the plot
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday declined to comment directly on the alleged threat to Lana Marks, the US ambassador to South Africa who is a close ally of Trump.
But Pompeo told Fox News that “the Islamic Republic of Iran has been involved in assassination efforts around the world. They have murdered people in Europe and other parts of the world. We take these … accusations seriously.”
READ | Ambassador Assassination Plan: SSA Ensures Lana Marks Safety, While Iran Dismisses Media Reports
“We made it very clear to the Islamic Republic of Iran that this type of activity, attacking any American anywhere and at any time, be it an American diplomat, an ambassador or one of our service members, is completely unacceptable.”
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman on Monday dismissed the report of an assassination plot as “unfounded” and as part of “rotten and repetitive methods to create an anti-Iranian atmosphere on the international stage.”
The Iranian navy said last week that it chased away American planes flying near an area where military exercises were taking place near the Strait of Hormuz.
The military said Iran’s air force radars detected three US aircraft after they entered the country’s air defense identification zone.
In June last year, Iran shot down an American RQ-4 drone after allegedly violating Iranian airspace, a claim the United States has denied.
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