Mohammad Javad Zarif urged the president of the United States, Donald Trump, not to be “trapped” by an alleged Israeli plan.
Dubai:
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday urged US President Donald Trump not to get “sucked in” by an alleged Israeli plan to provoke a war by attacking US forces in Iraq.
He issued the warning on the anniversary of the US assassination of senior Iranian general Qassem Soleimani for a drone strike in Iraq. Israel did not immediately comment.
Washington blames the Iranian-backed militia for the regular rocket attacks on US facilities in Iraq, including near the US embassy. No known Iranian-backed group has claimed responsibility.
“New intelligence from Iraq indicates (s) that Israeli agent provocateurs are plotting attacks against Americans, putting an outgoing Trump in a bind with a false casus belli (act justifying war),” Zarif said in a tweet.
“Watch out for a trap, @realDonaldTrump. Any fireworks will backfire,” Zarif wrote.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Zarif’s comments.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Zarif’s message.
Esmail Ghaani, who succeeded Soleimani as head of the elite Quds force, said on Friday that Iran was still ready to respond.
The US military flew two nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Middle East in a deterrent message to Iran on Wednesday, but the bombers have since left the region.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated channel.)
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