As the Trump administration continues to level evidence-free accusations against Iran and dangerously escalate the risk of another catastrophic war in the Middle East, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Thursday that his country is acting with “maximum restraint” in the face of U.S. belligerence and denounced threats of force by White House officials.
“We believe that escalation by the United States is unacceptable and uncalled for.”
—Javad Zarif, Iranian Foreign Minister
“We believe that escalation by the United States is unacceptable and uncalled for,” Zarif told reporters during a meeting with Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono in Tokyo.
Iran is exercising “maximum restraint in spite of the fact the United States withdrew from [the] JCPOA last May,” said Zarif, referring to the Iran nuclear accord.
As Common Dreams reported last week, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged diplomacy and pressured European nations to uphold their end of the nuclear accord as the Trump administration refuses to return to the negotiating table.
“The path we have chosen today is not the path of war, it is the path of diplomacy,” said Rouhani.
The Iranian president’s comments came just days after Trump national security adviser John Bolton used the routine deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf to threaten Iran with military force.
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