Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (Photo: IRNA news agency)
Tehran, December 25 (RHC)-- Iran has dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s accusations against Tehran regarding a recent rocket attack on the American embassy in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
At least three Katyusha rockets landed within the highly fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, close to the US diplomatic mission on Sunday night. One of the rockets was, however, diverted by an anti-rocket system set up to defend the embassy.
On Wednesday, Trump warned that he would hold "Iran responsible" in the event of a fatal attack on Americans in Iraq. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded on Twitter, saying the U.S. president's blame game was meant to divert attention from his own failures at home. Zarif said: "Putting your own citizens at risk abroad won't divert attention from catastrophic failures at home."
Zarif attached to his post Trump’s tweets between 2011 and 2013, in which he had accused then Democrat President Barack Obama of seeking to start a war with Iran prior to the election. He also published a chart showing that of the 20 days with the most deaths from a catastrophic event in the U.S. over the past century, 17 have occurred this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Also on Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh advised Trump to avoid any tension and “dangerous adventurism” in his final days in office, saying the Islamic Republic holds the U.S. government responsible for the consequences of any “unwise action.”
“Such repetitive, baseless, and fabricated allegations in the form of conventional White House blame games are meant to cast a shadow on Trump's difficult situation," he underlined. “As we have repeatedly said, attacks on diplomatic and residential buildings are rejected, and in this particular case, the finger of blame is being pointed at the United States itself and its partners and allies in the region, who are seeking to increase tensions and create new seditions.”