Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that war on his country is the mother of all wars and the maritime navigation in the Hormuz Strait could be not safe.
In a meeting with Foreign Ministry officials in Tehran on Tuesday, Rouhani said that “peace with Iran is the mother of all peace and war with Iran will be the mother of all wars.”
He added that “If you are seeking security in the region and if your soldiers in the region are seeking security, security will be provided in exchange for security,” stressing that disrupting security in Iran’s neighborhood and posing threats against his country will have reciprocal consequences for the US.
Rejecting talks with the US Rouhani said “we can’t have talks with a criminal. US moves are terrorist acts, and it is staging economic terrorism.”
“Today, you are well aware that we are powerful and we are capable of practicing what we speak. You have well understood that we shot down your advanced drone with an Iranian-made missile,” Rouhani noted, adding “security for security, strait for strait, peace for peace, and oil for oil; this is our word. Downing the American drone proved our might.”
Tensions between Washington and Tehran are at a high point over Iran’s nuclear programme, with the US increasing sanctions in the past year since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal.
Iran is also facing strained relations with the UK after the British authorities have detained an Iranian tanker earlier in July close to the coast of Gibraltar. London said that the Iranian tanker on was shipping oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions.
As a response, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have seized a British-flagged Swedish-owned oil tanker in the gulf, for allegedly violating international laws. In a statement, the IRGC said that the British oil tanker “Stena Impero” has been captured “because of violating the international maritime regulations when crossing the Strait of Hormuz.”
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the US is isolated now in the international stage and “Washington government has become all alone and cannot even form a military alliance.”
In a press conference in Tehran, Zarif told reporters that the US cannot form a coalition in areas that it claims to be a superpower such as the military area.” “Other countries are embarrassed to have their names on a list next to the US,” he said, adding that wherever the Americans deployed their forces, they failed, like in Afghanistan, according to Iranian media.
Zarif noted that “the era of (the US being) a superpower and bullying is over.” But the Iranian high diplomat stressed that his remarks don’t mean that his country has any conflict with the people of the US.
