Escalation in the Gulf confrontation
\nBlamin\u00adg Tehran won\u2019t end the disast\u00ader, but accept\u00ading its propos\u00adal for talks may\u2019: Zarif
\nnews desk
\nislamabad
\nIranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif took a dig at the Trump administration on Sunday, hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Tehran of leading attacks on Saudi oil plants that have cut the kingdom\u2019s output roughly in half.
\nIran, through a statement issued by a spokesperson of the foreign ministry, has already dismissed US accusations.
\nTaking to Twitter, Zarif maintained that \u201cblaming Iran won\u2019t end the disaster\u201d. He mocked the US secretary of state by saying: \u201cHaving failed at \u2018max pressure\u2019, Secretary Pompeo is turning to \u2018max deceit\u2019.
\n\u201cThe US and its clients are stuck in Yemen because of illusion that weapon superiority will lead to military victory.
\n\u201cBlaming Iran won\u2019t end disaster. Accepting our April 2015 proposal to end war and begin talks may.\u201d
\nYemen\u2019s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the drone strikes, but Pompeo said \u201cthere is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen\u201d.
\n\u201cTehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while Rouhani and Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy,\u201d Pompeo said, referring to Iran\u2019s President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif.
\n\u201cAmid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world\u2019s energy supply,\u201d he added. The State Department declined to provide any evidence to bolster Pompeo\u2019s claim.
\n\u201cWe call on all nations to publicly and unequivocally condemn Iran\u2019s attacks,\u201d Pompeo said, warning that the Trump administration would work with its allies to make sure Iran was \u201cheld accountable for its aggression.\u201d
\nTehran and Washington have been at loggerheads since May last year when President Trump pulled out of a 2015 deal that promised Iran relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.
\nSince the withdrawal, the United States has slapped crippling sanctions on Iran as part of a campaign of \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d and the Islamic republic has responded by reducing its commitments to the nuclear accord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Escalation in the Gulf confrontation Blamin\u00adg Tehran won\u2019t end the disast\u00ader, but accept\u00ading its propos\u00adal for talks may\u2019: Zarif news desk islamabad Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif took a dig at the Trump administration on Sunday, hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Tehran of leading attacks on Saudi oil plants that have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n