US President Donald Trump on Monday vowed that
any attack by Iran would be met with a response “1,000 times
greater in magnitude,” after reports that Iran planned to avenge
the killing of top general Qasem Soleimani.
A US media report, quoting unnamed officials, said that an
alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the US ambassador to South
Africa was planned before the presidential election in
November.
“According to press reports, Iran may be planning an
assassination, or other attacks, against the United States in
retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader Soleimani,”
Trump tweeted.
“Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will
be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in
magnitude!”
Relations between Washington and Tehran have been tense since
the Iranian revolution, and have spiralled
since Trump unilaterally pulled out of a landmark
international nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018.
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In January, a US drone strike killed Soleimani in Baghdad, and
Washington is pushing to extend an arms embargo on Iran that starts
to progressively expire in October as well as reimposing UN
sanctions on the Islamic republic.
The Iranian navy last week said it drove off American aircraft
that flew close to an area where military exercises were underway
near the Strait of Hormuz.
The military said three US aircraft were detected by Iran’s air
force radars after they entered the country’s air defence
identification zone.
AFP