In keeping with recent rhetoric out of the IRGC, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif told CNN that if the Saudis or the US attack Iran, it would lead to “all-out war”.
The Saudis and the US would have to fight “to the last American soldier”, he warned, adding that he’s “making a very serious statement about defending our country”.
On Wednesday, the Saudis made a series of ostensibly “serious” statements about the involvement of Zarif’s “country” in the drone and missile strikes which knocked out 50% of Aramco’s oil production capacity. At a press conference, the kingdom’s defense ministry displayed debris from the attacks which spokesman Turki al-Malki said show “unquestionably” that the strikes were sponsored by Iran
Read more: The Saudis Have Some Debris They’d Like You To Scope Out
Zarif was also amusingly ambiguous on Houthi claims of responsibility.
“I cannot have any confidence that they did it because we just heard their statement”, he told CNN, as though Tehran has no lines of communication with their proxy in Yemen. “I know that we didn’t do it. I know that the Houthis made a statement that they did it”.
(Nobody knows who did it, apparently.)
Zarif decried what he called a lot of “deception” about the attacks and mused that war would create “a lot of casualties”. “But we won’t blink to defend our territory”, he added.
As far as negotiating with the Trump administration is concerned, he demanded sanctions relief as a precondition for talks. To wit:
(The JCPOA) is an agreement that we reached with the United States. Why should we renegotiate? Why should we start something else which may again be invalid in a year and a half. If they lift the sanctions that they re-imposed illegally then that’s a different situation. Then we would consider talks.
Last week, during a meeting in the Oval Office, Trump discussed a possible easing of sanctions as a way to secure a meeting with Hassan Rouhani, reportedly infuriating John Bolton, who was asked for (and subsequently tendered) his resignation.
On Wednesday, while speaking to the media alongside new national security advisor Robert O’Brien, Trump reiterated that he didn’t want to rush into an armed conflict, but suggested he might still do “dastardly” things to Iran. The US president also said Wednesday that his administration would announce new sanctions on Iran within 48 hours.
“They’ve done whatever they could and they haven’t been able to bring us to our knees”, Zarif told CNN of the sanctions.
Asked about the current state of relations between Tehran and Washington, he said he “misses rationality”. “What I miss is prudence. I think the US deserves to be more rational,” he added.
