Tensions are growing.
Earlier this week, Donald Trump authorised the killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.
Soleimani was killed on Friday in a US drone strike on his convoy at Baghdad airport.
And now, an Iranian Minister has condemned Donald Trump as a “terrorist in a suit” after the US president threatened to hit 52 Iranian sites hard if Tehran attacks Americans or US assets in retaliation for the killing Soleimani.
In a series of tweets Trump said that Iran “is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets” to avenge Gen Soleimani’s death.
The President said the United States has “targeted 52 Iranian sites” and that some were “at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.”
Yeah, the caps were used…
The United States just spent Two Trillion Dollars on Military Equipment. We are the biggest and by far the BEST in the World! If Iran attacks an American Base, or any American, we will be sending some of that brand new beautiful equipment their way…and without hesitation!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2020
In response to the threats, Information and Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi tweeted:
“Like ISIS, Like Hitler, Like Genghis! They all hate cultures. Trump is a terrorist in a suit. He will learn history very soon that NOBODY can defeat ‘the Great Iranian Nation & Culture’.”
Iran’s foreign minister today said that any plan to target the country’s sites would be considered a “war crime”.
“Targeting cultural sites is a WAR CRIME,” Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted in response to Mr Trump’s comments.
“Whether kicking or screaming, end of US malign presence in West Asia has begun”.