“‘All options on the table’ has long been a staple of US foreign policy,” Zarif tweeted on Sunday night.
“It simply means the law of the jungle: disregard for a fundamental principle of int’l law: Non-Use of Force,” he added.
“Now, the Trump regime is using the same threat against Americans. A wake-up call? God willing.”
He made the remarks in reaction to statements by acting US Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf who told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that “all options continue to be on the table” to end violent protests in Portland, Oregon, including sending in federal law enforcement assistance.
Zarif’s tweet also contains an innuendo to the fact that American officials have frequently used the sentence in an implicit threat of military force against Iran.
Portland has been the scene of angry protests against police injustice and racial discrimination since May, when George Floyd, a black American, was killed by a white police officer in Minnesota.
Tensions in the city intensified in July after the Trump administration deployed federal agents to crack down on the protests.
