Zarif Hits Back at Pompeo for Lies, Push for War


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign minister lashed out at his US counterpart for resorting to the habit of telling lies and for his attempts to deceive the US president into another war by accusing Tehran of involvement in recent Yemeni attacks on Saudi oil facilities.

In a thread of tweets on Thursday, Mohammad Javad Zarif decried US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for looking for a war through “lies and cheating.”

“Act of war or AGITATION for WAR? Remnants of B-Team (+ambitious allies) try to deceive Donald Trump into war. For their own sake, they should pray that they won't get what they seek. They're still paying for much smaller Yemen war they were too arrogant to end 4 years ago,” Zarif said.

He also reminded Pompeo that “old habits clearly die hard.”

"Lies and cheating --and groveling to foreign clients who harbor utter disregard for blood and treasure-- have reached new high over last few days. Path to redemption: Seizing opportunity to end disaster in Yemen - not widening it,” Zarif added.

He has also attached a video to his message showing  Pompeo confessing that the CIA “lied, cheated and stole” when he was in charge of the agency.

In another message, Iran’s top diplomat criticized Pompeo for trying to “dodge US obligation to issue visas for UN delegates by resorting to self-arrogated designations.”

“A history lesson, perhaps, for my novice counterpart: Nelson Mandela was on US Terrorist Watch List until 2008; 15 years after receiving Nobel Peace Prize,” Zarif stated.

The Yemeni forces on Saturday launched drone attacks on two plants at the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry, including the world's biggest petroleum processing facility.

The US has accused Iran of involvement in the attack, alleging that a number of cruise missiles have been fired from Iran at the Saudi targets. Iran vehemently denies the claim.