US in No Position to Obliterate Iran: FM Zarif

Speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN, Zarif said that US actions have been “confrontational” and “provocative” but that Iran is not seeking war.

“I think President Trump should remember that we don’t live in the 18th century. There is a United Nations charter, and threat of wars is illegal,” Zarif said.

Amid escalating tensions between the Trump administration and Tehran, the US President warned Tuesday that any subsequent attack Iran might carry out on “anything American” would be met with “great and overwhelming force.”

“In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration,” the President tweeted.

The ramped-up rhetoric comes after US officials blamed Iran for conducting attacks against two tankers in the vital Sea of Oman this month. Iran has denied responsibility for the ship attacks.

The US President himself accused Iran of being behind the provocation, threatening airstrikes on Iran last week — but calling them off just minutes before they were to begin.

Zarif said the US administration was “trying to undermine the Iranian government” and “walked into it based on a wrong analysis.”

Trump has received “wrong information, wrong analysis, and now President Trump finds himself in a situation where he believes that he needs to get out.”

Speaking to CNN, the foreign minister also referred to the anti-Iran sanctions as “an additional insult by the United States against the entire Iranian nation.”