Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has dismissed US President Donald Trump’s “genocidal taunts” and warned him not to threaten the country.

With tensions rising, Mr Trump tweeted on Sunday: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran.”

Mr Zarif said the president should look at history. “Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone… Try respect – it works!”

The US has deployed additional warships and planes to the Gulf in recent days.

But Mr Trump’s tweet marked a shift in tone after recent attempts by him to downplay the possibility of a military conflict with Iran. Last week, when asked by reporters if the US was going to war with Iran, he said: “I hope not.”

His warning to Iran was issued hours after a rocket was fired into the heavily fortified Green Zone in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and hit a building about 0.5km (0.3 miles) from the US embassy.

The US recently evacuated non-emergency staff from the mission because of what it called a “serious” threat reportedly linked to Iran-backed forces in Iraq.

Writing on Twitter on Monday, Iran’s foreign minister said the US president was being “goaded” by what he called the “B Team” – a reference to US National Security Adviser John Bolton, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Mr Trump “hopes to achieve what Alexander [the Great], Genghis [Khan] & other aggressors failed to do. Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. #EconomicTerrorism & genocidal taunts won’t ‘end Iran’,” he added.

On Saturday, Mr Zarif had insisted that Iran did not want a war. </s> Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday of planning to "abuse" the presidency of the U.N. Security Council to criticise Tehran, Washington's arch-foe.

DUBAI: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday of planning to "abuse" the presidency of the U.N. Security Council to criticise Tehran, Washington's arch-foe.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said on Tuesday that Trump would chair a U.N. Security Council meeting on Iran this month to spotlight its "violations of international law" during the annual gathering of world leaders in New York.

"He plans to abuse presidency of SC (Security Council) to divert a session ... to blame Iran for horrors US & clients have unleashed across M.E. (Middle East) #chutzpah," Zarif wrote in his tweet.

Trump in May withdrew from Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers which is aimed at stalling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities in return for lifting some sanctions, and ordered the reimposition of U.S. sanctions suspended under the deal.

European powers have been scrambling to salvage the accord, but the spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said Tehran would relaunch its nuclear programme at a higher level than previously if the nuclear agreement collapsed.

"We are far more advanced than at the time of agreeing to the nuclear deal," spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster IRIB.

"And we will never be able to return to the previous level of nuclear activity if we go out to the next, but we will step into more advanced levels," Kamalvandi said.

Tehran has also warned that it might quit a treaty designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons if the agreement is abandoned.

In Washington, Trump said on Wednesday he remained open to the possibility of talks between Washington and Tehran, but said Iran was in turmoil and struggling to survive.

The United States, which holds the Security Council presidency for September, has unsuccessfully pushed the council to call out Iran. Haley has regularly attacked Iran, accusing it of meddling in the wars in Syria and Yemen.

Haley said on Tuesday that Trump was chairing the Security Council meeting "to address Iran’s violations of international law and the general instability Iran sows throughout the entire Middle East region."

"There's only one UNSC resolution on Iran. .@realDonaldTrump is violating it & bullying others to do same," Zarif wrote on Twitter.

Iran is still subject to a U.N. arms embargo and other restrictions contained in the resolution, which enshrines the nuclear deal.

In February, Russia vetoed a U.S.-led bid for the Security Council to call out Tehran for failing to prevent its weapons from falling into the hands of Yemen’s Houthi group, a charge Tehran denies. </s> FILE – In this Nov. 9, 2013, file photo, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zari, center, leaves following a meeting with EU foreign ministers at the Iran Nuclear talks in Geneva, Switzerland. The U.S. government is placing financial sanctions on Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, as part of its escalating pressure campaign against that country. The highly unusual action, sanctioning the top diplomat of another nation, comes a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order placing sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Jason Reed/Poo Photo via APl, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government on Wednesday imposed financial sanctions on Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, as part of its escalating campaign of pressure against the Islamic Republic.

The highly unusual action of penalizing the top diplomat of another nation comes a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order placing sanctions on Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Zarif, in response to the sanctioning, tweeted: “It has no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran.”

U.S. officials said Zarif’s travels to New York for official U.N. business will not be inhibited by the new sanctions, in accordance with America’s international obligations.

Zarif met earlier this month with Republican Sen. Rand Paul, a Trump ally, about potentially opening a back channel for restarting nuclear talks between the two countries. </s> The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions against Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, effectively slamming the door on the country’s top diplomat.

The sanctions freeze any of Zarif’s assets in the United States or that are controlled by US entities, the government announced, saying it also will curtail his international travel.

“Zarif implements the reckless agenda of Iran’s Supreme Leader and is the regime’s primary spokesperson around the world. The United States is sending a clear message to the Iranian regime that its recent behavior is completely unacceptable,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The designation of Zarif under the same sanctions earlier applied to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the latest blow by President Donald Trump to the Obama administration’s attempt to end nuclear tensions through negotiations.

But in a mixed message to Tehran, Washington on Wednesday extended waivers for three Iranian civil nuclear projects, to avoid upsetting the other signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement — China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain.

“This is a short 90-day extension,” said White House National Security Advisor John Bolton, a champion of the hawkish policy towards Tehran.

“We are watching those nuclear activities very, very closely, they remain under daily scrutiny,” he told Fox Business.

Zarif has been at the heart of complex talks with foreign capitals over Iran’s nuclear power industry, which Tehran says is peaceful, but Washington and regional allies including Israel insist is cover for a secret weapons program.

But a senior Trump administration official said that Zarif’s diplomatic image — bolstered by his fluent English, self-effacing humour and background as a US-educated academic — was false.

“The key issue is that he has had this veneer […] of being the sincere and reasonable interlocutor for the regime. Our point today is that he is no such thing,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

“Today President Trump decided enough was enough,” the official said, accusing Zarif of functioning as “propaganda minister, not foreign minister”.

Zarif shot back, tweeting that Washington is trying to silence Iran on the international stage.

“The US’ reason for designating me is that I am Iran’s ‘primary spokesperson around the world’ Is the truth really that painful?” he tweeted.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the sanctions on Zarif showed that the US was ‘afraid’ of the top diplomat. </s> Iranian officials are slamming the United States for imposing sanctions on the country's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, personally targeting Iran's highest ranking diplomat. The move comes amid rising tensions between the two countries, which have long been at odds.

Zarif took to Twitter to criticize the sanctions in a message laced with sarcasm and incredulity.

"The US' reason for designating me is that I am Iran's 'primary spokesperson around the world' Is the truth really that painful?" Zarif wrote. "It has no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran. Thank you for considering me a huge threat to your agenda."

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani described the move as "childish" and a barrier to diplomacy. "Every day they claim: 'We want to negotiate with Iran, without any pre-conditions,' and then they put sanctions on the country's foreign minister," Rohuani said in a speech Thursday, the Associated Press reported.

Others at the United Nations have voiced their own opinions on the U.S.' latest sanction on Iran. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres took an indirect swipe at the U.S. on the new visa sanctions, saying, "When I ask for maximum restraint, I ask for maximum restraint at all levels."

And, when Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy was asked about the new sanctions on Iran's Foreign Minister, he said, "It is very difficult sometimes to get into the heads of the Americans. It remains an enigma. Like a woman's mind sometimes Americans' minds are very mysterious," CBS News' Pamela Falk reports from the U.N.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the sanctions on Wednesday, describing Zarif as someone "who enriched himself at the expense of the Iranian people." On Twitter, Pompeo posed a picture of Zarif and stated, "Foreign Minister Zarif, a senior regime official and apologist, has for years been complicit in the Iranian regime's malign activities."

Recently, President @realDonaldTrump sanctioned Iran’s Supreme Leader, who enriched himself at the expense of the Iranian people. Today, the U.S. designated his chief apologist @JZarif. He’s just as complicit in the regime’s outlaw behavior as the rest of @khamenei_ir’s mafia. pic.twitter.com/XhDdqR6rik — Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) July 31, 2019

Pompeo has recently given mixed signals regarding policy toward Iran. Earlier this week, Pompeo wrote on Twitter, "I recently offered to travel to Tehran and speak directly to the Iranian people. The regime hasn't accepted my offer." Zarif called his offer "empty and disingenuous."

Iranian foreign minister "concerned about hidden agendas" in U.S.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have been on the rise this summer. On June 19, Iran seized a British-flagged oil tanker and also detained an additional vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's aggressive posture follows President Trump's 2018 decision to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran, the United States and other world powers. The Trump administration has also imposed sweeping economic sanctions on Iran, including restricting its oil exports, leaving the economy in shambles.

In June, President Trump nearly engaged in a military strike against Iran, after a U.S. drone was shot down in Iranian airspace. Mr. Trump said the U.S. military was "cocked and loaded" to retaliate against Iran at three different sites on June 21, but he said he called off the operation after learning 150 people would likely be killed. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, targeting the country’s top spokesman and potentially hurting chances of diplomatic talks amid rising tensions between the two countries.

Zarif, a critical figure in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, dismissed the action and said it would not affect him.

U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal last year and ramped up sanctions to put pressure on Iran’s economy. The move dismantled part of President Barack Obama’s legacy and upset U.S. allies who were party to the agreement, which was designed to restrict Tehran’s pathway to a nuclear bomb in exchange for sanctions relief.

Strains between Washington and Tehran have risen more in recent months after attacks on tankers in the Gulf that the United States blames on Iran and Iran’s downing of a U.S. drone that prompted preparations for a U.S. retaliatory air strike that Trump called off at the last minute.

“Javad Zarif implements the reckless agenda of Iran’s Supreme Leader, and is the regime’s primary spokesperson around the world. The United States is sending a clear message to the Iranian regime that its recent behaviour is completely unacceptable,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The sanctions against Zarif would block any property or interests he has in the United States, but the Iranian foreign minister said he had none.

“The US’ reason for designating me is that I am Iran’s ‘primary spokesperson around the world’,” Zarif said on Twitter. “Is the truth really that painful? It has no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran. Thank you for considering me such a huge threat to your agenda.”

Zarif lived in the United States, from the age of 17 as a student of international relations in San Francisco and Denver, and subsequently as a diplomat at the United Nations in New York, where he was Iranian ambassador from 2002 to 2007.

The Trump administration said it would make decisions on whether to grant Zarif travel visas, including for trips to the United Nations, on a case by case basis, holding open the possibility that he might attend the annual U.N. General Assembly in September.

If Zarif received such a visa, that would allow direct or indirect U.S. contacts with him during that gathering, which brings most of the world’s leaders to New York and has been the venue for previous U.S.-Iranian contacts.

A senior U.S. official reiterated that Trump was open to talks with Iran, but said the administration would want to deal with a key decision maker, which it did not consider Zarif to be.

Senator Chris Murphy, a Democratic member of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, questioned the administration’s move.

“If our position is really that we want to negotiate with Iran than maybe we shouldn’t sanction their chief negotiator,” Murphy posted on Twitter.

On June 24 Trump targeted Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian officials with sanctions.

Mnuchin said then that Zarif would be blacklisted that week, but the designation did not happen quickly. Reuters reported in mid-July that the administration had decided to hold off on sanctions against him for the time being.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday the Trump administration still sought a diplomatic solution but said Zarif’s foreign ministry was advancing the Iranian Supreme Leader’s “destabilising” policies.

“The only path forward is a comprehensive deal that addresses the full range of its threats. Until then, our campaign of diplomatic isolation and maximum economic pressure will continue,” Pompeo said.

Mnuchin said Zarif used social media to spread Iranian “propaganda and disinformation” while the government did not allow its citizens to use such mediums themselves. </s> FILE – In this Nov. 9, 2013, file photo, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zari, center, leaves following a meeting with EU foreign ministers at the Iran Nuclear talks in Geneva, Switzerland. The U.S. government is placing financial sanctions on Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, as part of its escalating pressure campaign against that country. The highly unusual action, sanctioning the top diplomat of another nation, comes a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order placing sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Jason Reed/Poo Photo via APl, File)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister on Monday lambasted recent U.S. financial sanctions against him, calling the move a “failure” for diplomacy amid escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf.

“Imposing sanctions against a foreign minister means failure” for any efforts at negotiations, Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters at a press conference in Tehran, adding that it also means the side imposing the measures is “opposing talks.”

The U.S. administration last week announced sanctions on Zarif, a month after President Donald Trump had imposed similar sanctions on Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The moves are seen as part of Washington’s escalating campaign in what Trump calls “maximum pressure” on the Islamic Republic.

The U.S. has increasingly deployed military reinforcements to the region amid unspecified threats from Iran in the wake of Trump’s withdrawal last year from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Zarif stressed that while there are no problems between the American and the Iranian people, Washington’s policy of threatening war and “talking about war as an option that remains on the table cannot stand.”

Zarif’s press conference came a day after Iran announced its forces had seized a foreign ship in the Persian Gulf suspected of carrying smuggled fuel. It was the Revolutionary Guard’s third seizure of a vessel in recent weeks and the latest show of strength by the paramilitary force amid the spike in tensions.

Iranian media reported that seven crew members were detained when the ship was seized last Wednesday with “smuggled fuel” from Iran but provided no details on the vessel or the nationality of the crew.

Tensions in the region escalated recently, with the United States boosting its military presence and six oil tankers targeted in the Gulf of Oman in unclaimed acts of sabotage that the U.S. blames on Iran. Iran has denied any involvement in those attacks.

In June, Iran shot down an American surveillance drone in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump came close to retaliating, but called off an airstrike at the last moment. Washington has since claimed that a U.S. warship downed an Iranian drone in the strait. Iran denies losing any aircraft in the area.

Maritime security in the region was further jolted in mid-July, when the Revolutionary Guard’s naval forces confirmed they had seized a United Arab Emirates-based oil tanker, the Panamanian-flagged MT Riah, for allegedly smuggling fuel from Iranian smugglers to foreign customers.

Also in July, the Guard seized a British-flagged vessel near the Persian Gulf in the Strait of Hormuz, in what some Iranian officials suggested was retaliation for the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker in a British Royal Navy operation off Gibraltar, near Spain.

Also, Iran recently began surpassing uranium enrichment limits set in the 2015 nuclear deal, but says these moves can be reversed if given enough economic incentives to offset U.S. sanctions.

Referring to the seizure of the British tanker, Zarif said Monday that it was not a reciprocal action for Gibraltar. He also told reporters he had received an invitation from Washington for a meeting during his New York trip in July, along with a warning about the sanctions.

“During my trip to New York, I was told I would be sanctioned within two weeks unless I accept their invitation, which I rejected,” Zarif said.

U.S. officials have not confirmed either of Zarif’s claims — neither the one about him being warned about the sanctions nor the one about the alleged invitation for talks. </s> Iranian officials are slamming the United States for imposing sanctions on the country's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, personally targeting Iran's highest ranking diplomat. The move comes amid rising tensions between the two countries, which have long been at odds.

Zarif took to Twitter to criticize the sanctions in a message laced with sarcasm and incredulity.

"The US' reason for designating me is that I am Iran's 'primary spokesperson around the world' Is the truth really that painful?" Zarif wrote. "It has no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran. Thank you for considering me a huge threat to your agenda."

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani described the move as "childish" and a barrier to diplomacy. "Every day they claim: 'We want to negotiate with Iran, without any pre-conditions,' and then they put sanctions on the country's foreign minister," Rohuani said in a speech Thursday, the Associated Press reported.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the sanctions on Wednesday, describing Zarif as someone "who enriched himself at the expense of the Iranian people." On Twitter, Pompeo posed a picture of Zarif and stated, "Foreign Minister Zarif, a senior regime official and apologist, has for years been complicit in the Iranian regime's malign activities."

Pompeo has recently given mixed signals regarding policy toward Iran. Earlier this week, Pompeo wrote on Twitter, "I recently offered to travel to Tehran and speak directly to the Iranian people. The regime hasn't accepted my offer." Zarif called his offer "empty and disingenuous."

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have been on the rise this summer. On June 19, Iran seized a British-flagged oil tanker and also detained an additional vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's aggressive posture follows President Trump's 2018 decision to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran, the United States and other world powers. The Trump administration has also imposed sweeping economic sanctions on Iran, including restricting its oil exports, leaving the economy in shambles.

In June, President Trump nearly engaged in a military strike against Iran, after a U.S. drone was shot down in Iranian airspace. Mr. Trump said the U.S. military was "cocked and loaded" to retaliate against Iran at three different sites on June 21, but he said he called off the operation after learning 150 people would likely be killed. </s> CAPITOL HILL — U.S. President Donald Trump says there is “no infighting whatsoever” about his Middle East policies and that as tensions with Iran continue, he is “sure that Iran will want to talk soon.”

Trump responded to reports in the Washington Post and New York Times about clashing opinions between those in his administration who see Iran taking clear steps in preparation to attack U.S. forces, and other officials, including some from European allies, who argue the Iranian moves are defensive precautions in response to U.S. actions toward Iran.

“Different opinions are expressed and I make a decisive and final decision,” Trump tweeted. “All sides, views, and policies are covered.”

Trump decided last year to withdraw from an international agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, and applied fresh actions to cut off Iran’s oil and banking sectors in an attempt to alter the Iranian government’s behavior.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday that “the escalation by the United States is unacceptable and uncomfortable,” and that despite the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran is exercising “maximum restraint.”

The United States has ordered its non-essential employees to leave the country’s embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and its consulate in Irbil as the Trump administration warned of threats against American forces in the Middle East from Iran or Iranian-backed proxies.

“There are only two reasons for ordering their departure: we have credible intelligence that our people are at risk or in preparation for military action in Iran,” the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, said. “The Trump administration has not provided any information to this committee on the intelligence behind their decisions or what they plan to do in Iraq or Iran.”

Menendez demanded the officials bring panel members up to date on “any plans to go to war with Iran.”

Committee chairman, Idaho Republican James Risch, said he, personally, has been briefed on the unfolding situation in the Middle East and said a briefing of the full U.S. Senate was “in the works.”

The United States is not alone in curtailing activities in Iraq. Germany and the Netherlands say they are suspending military training operations in the country, although Berlin said it had no signals of its own that a threat against Western interests in Iraq was imminent. The Dutch government cited an unspecified security threat in curtailing its training operations.

Trump has rejected a report that he is considering sending 120,000 troops to counter Iran but didn’t rule out deploying “a lot more” soldiers in the future.

“I think it’s fake news,” Trump said of The New York Times report. “Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that.”

The Pentagon has dispatched an aircraft carrier and nuclear-capable bomber planes to the region in the past few days, with a Patriot missile battery and a landing platform dock ship on the way. The Patriot system offers protection from aircraft and missiles, while the LPD carries Marines and the aircraft, hovercraft or boats needed to put them ashore to fight in distant places.

But a major U.S. ally in the region, the United Arab Emirates, says it will show “restraint” in the face of Iranian aggression.

The United States suspects Iran was behind the sabotage of four foreign vessels Sunday off the UAE coast. Two Saudi oil tankers were among those damaged.

“We need to emphasize caution and good judgment,” UAE Foreign Affairs Minister Anwar Gargash said Wednesday. “It is easy to throw accusations, but it is a difficult situation. There are serious issues and among them is Iranian behavior.”

He said the UAE will not publicly speculate who was behind the sabotage while the investigation is under way.

Meanwhile, a senior British officer in the U.S.-led military coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria said Tuesday he has not seen an increased threat to his troops by Iranian-backed forces in Iraq or Syria.

Major General Chris Ghika’s statement to reporters contradicts the Trump administration, which has asserted for more than a week that it has detected potential Iranian threats against U.S. forces in the Middle East.

“This seems like an escalation with no endgame,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said, describing the pressure campaign on Tehran as “ham-handed.”
Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif states that the "genocidal taunts" of U.S. President Donald Trump "won't end Iran", in response to President Trump's comments that if Iran attacked U.S. interests, "that will be the official end of Iran." He also blasted Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir for his previous May 19 remarks regarding Iran.