Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has warned of the ‘mother of all wars’ if the United States attacks, and today Iran unveiled three new precision guided missiles. The Daily Mail reported on the unveiling and quoted Iran Defence Minister Brigadier-General Amir Hatami saying the new missiles are to prove that Iran “will not hesitate for a moment to defend [itself]’ as he viewed the weapons in front of TV cameras.”
Iran and the United States have experienced increasing tension over sanctions and taking out spy drones. Daily Mail reports, “while stressing that Tehran is willing to negotiate over its nuclear programme, Rouhani said that America must drop all sanctions before the country will talk.” Rouhani also has threatened that “while peace with Iran will be ‘the mother of all peace’, ‘war will be the mother of all wars.”
President Trump and other national security analysts question the sincerity of Iran’s words and proceed with caution. Iran wants sanctions lifted and will use the idea of peace to manipulate the United States, but can they be trusted? In reality, what would actually happen after Iran’s demands are met is unknown. Iran has “been engaged in sabre-rattling with the US for months after the Trump administration walked away from a nuclear deal signed under predecessor Obama.”
The UK has pledged to back the United States following Iran’s accusation that their actions of seizing an Iranian tanker off Gibraltar was “economic terrorism.” Now the UK became the “first nation to agree to join a US-led mission to protecting shipping through the Gulf after one of its tankers was seized.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has criticised U.S. sanctions saying “Washington had closed the door to diplomacy over Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, which U.S. President Donald trump exited last year…Iran will leave its 2015 nuclear deal with powers if necessary,’ Zarif said on Monday, adding that all measures taken by Iran were however ‘reversible if its interests under the deal are secured.” However, Iran has so far rejected any and all requests by the Trump administration to negotiate a new deal.
