6/26/2019

IRAN/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has responded to President Donald Trump’s recent threats to Tehran on Twitter, saying that the United States ‘is not in a position to obliterate Iran.’ Speaking exclusively to CNN a week after Iran downed a US military drone, Zarif said that US actions have been ‘confrontational’ and ‘provocative’ but that Iran is not seeking war…Amid escalating tensions between the Trump administration and Tehran, the US President warned Tuesday [6-25-19] that any subsequent attack Iran might carry out on ‘anything American’ would be met with ‘great and overwhelming force’…The ramped-up rhetoric comes after US officials blamed Iran for conducting attacks against two tankers in the vital Gulf of Oman this month. Iran has denied responsibility for the ship attacks. The US President himself accused Iran of being behind the provocation, threatening airstrikes on Iran last week — but calling them off just minutes before they were to begin.”

Frederik Pleitgen and Eliza Mackintosh, “US is ‘not in a position to obliterate Iran,’ Iranian foreign minister says,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, June 26, 2019 2:38 pm