Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says a recent incident in which a US spy drone encroached on the Iranian territory in the Sea of Oman was the extension of previous efforts by the B-Team to drag US President Donald Trump into a war with Iran.
Taking to his official Twitter page on Sunday, Zarif said the B-Team has made efforts against the Islamic Republic in the past, including encroachments on the Iranian territory by an MQ2 spy drone in late May and phone calls made to attribute attacks on tankers off the United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah port city to Iran.
Iran's top diplomat noted that all those measures, instigated by the B-Team, were meant to lure Trump into a war with Iran, but “prudence prevented it.”
More evidence—including encroachment of a MQ9 spy drone on 5/26, speedboat purchases & phone calls planning to attribute ship attacks to Iran—indicate #B_Team was moments away from trapping @realDonaldTrump into a war. Prudence prevented it, but #EconomicTerrorism brings tension. pic.twitter.com/LmWJTDvt2O
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 23, 2019
The hawkish “B-team” is comprised of US National Security Adviser John Bolton, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced on Thursday that its air defense force had shot down an intruding American spy drone in the country’s southern coastal province of Hormozgan.
The IRGC said in a statement that the US-made Global Hawk surveillance drone was brought down by its Air Force near the Kouh-e Mobarak region, which sits in the central district of Jask County, after the aircraft violated Iranian airspace.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that the recent encroachment on the Islamic Republic's airspace by the US spy drone is the “beginning of new tension in the region.”
“This region is very sensitive and security of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman is significant for many countries. Therefore, we expect all international bodies to show an appropriate reaction to this act of aggression by the US,” Rouhani said in a meeting with President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Gabriela Cuevas Barron in Tehran.
The American drone incident came a month after the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous and Norwegian-owned Front Altair oil tankers were struck by explosions near the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has accused Iran of being behind the attack while independent analysts blamed US and Israeli intelligence agencies for carrying out a false flag operation in order to ignite a conflict in the Middle East region.
Read more:
- ‘Japan dismisses US claim that Iran attacked tankers’
- UN chief urges independent inquiry into oil tanker attacks
- Evidence not sufficient to blame any country for Fujairah tanker attacks: UAE
- UAE oil tanker attacks 'false flag' operations: Analyst
In the last part of his tweet, Iran's foreign minister pointed to the impact of the US economic sanctions against Iran, which he has frequently described as “economic terrorism,” noting that despite averting a war, continuation of economic terrorism by the United States continued to stoke more tensions in the region.
US President Trump pulled his country out of the multilateral nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018 and re-imposed harsh sanctions against the Islamic Republic in defiance of global criticism.
On the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran announced that it would suspend the implementation of some of its commitments under the deal, adding that it would stop exporting excess uranium and heavy water, setting a 60-day deadline for the five remaining parties to the deal to take practical measures towards ensuring its interests in the face of the American sanctions.
In a meeting with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in Tehran earlier this month, President Rouhani said European countries must resist the United States’ economic terrorism against the Iranian nation and live up to their obligations as per the nuclear deal signed between Tehran and six world powers in 2015.
“We expect Europe to stand up to and resist America’s economic terrorism against the Iranian nation and fulfill its obligations in accordance with the JCPOA,” Rouhani told Germany’s top diplomat, adding that following the US withdrawal from the deal, Iran could have done the same on the strength of Article 36 of the JCPOA, but rather decided to remain patient and give other signatories a chance.
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