As Israel continues trying to prevent Iran from setting up camp adjacent to the Syrian Israeli border on the Golan Heights and reportedly carried out another airstrike on an Iranian military base in Syria, the United States engaged in a war of words with the Islamist regime in Tehran over the weekend.
This happened after Iranian president Hassan Rouhani threatened to wage “the mother of all wars” if the U.S. decides to slap fresh sanctions to prevent Iranian oil exports via the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically important waterway located between Iran and Oman.
After hinting he could close the Strait of Hormuz for all countries who produce oil, Rouhani addressed the Iranian nation on Sunday and warned the U.S. not to escalate tensions with Iran.
“Mr. Trump! We are the honest men who have throughout history guaranteed the safety of this region’s waterways,” Rouhani claimed, adding “do not play with the lion’s tail; it will cause regret.”
Rouhani then said that “peace with Iran would be the mother of all peace,” while war with the Islamic Republic would be “the mother of all wars.”
Trump immediately shot back and warned Rouhani in a late-night Tweet not to threaten the world’s only superpower ever again.
“To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE,” Trump warned Iran’s president.
He then added The United States “ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH,” and warned the Iranian leadership to “be cautious.”
Trump’s threat caused a host of high ranking Iranian officials to ridicule the President or to issue similar threats.
The commander of the IRGC’s Basij force Gholamhossein Gheybparvar claimed “Trump could not do "a dammed thing against Iran” while former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei tweeted “Mr. Trump, you be cautious.”
Iranian political analyst Seed Leilaz said he believed Trump’s remarks were simply ‘the storm before the calm,’” The Blaze reported.
IRNA, the regime’s mouthpiece, thought Trump was only mimicking Javad Zarif Iran’s Foreign Minister who once warned the West to “never threaten an Iranian.”
In reality, however, the Iranian military is no match for the armed forces of the United States, which have the ability to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities and its military infrastructure in a matter of days.
The U.S. military, furthermore, has a budget two times Iran’s GDP and in 2016, under the Obama Administration, received $ 612 billion while Iran spent an estimated $18 billion on defense in 2015.
Iran on the other hand, is able to wage a deadly asymmetric war against the United States army by using its large ballistic missile arsenal and its proxies throughout the Middle East.
Iran is also able to wreak havoc by launching terror attacks against various American targets in the world via Hezbollah which has operational capabilities far beyond the Middle East.
The Islamic Republic, furthermore, has a fleet of at least twenty Ghadir-class submarines and some other types of submarines which could be used in case it decides to close off the Strait of Hormuz.
New US sanctions on Iran’s oil industry are due to kick in at the beginning of November and the deputy commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has already advised Rouhani to close off the Strait of Hormuz in response.
Approx. 30 percent of all sea-borne traded crude oil and fuel passes daily via the crucial waterway.
Other economic sanctions will be re-imposed on Iran by the Trump Administration in the coming weeks, while Trump is also working to encourage the Iranian people to overthrow the Islamist Mullah regime.
The only leader who seemed to be happy with Trump’s tough stance on Iran was Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu who praised the President for his strong position against “the aggression of the Iranian regime.”
“For years this regime has been pampered by the superpowers, and it is good to see the United States change this unacceptable equation,” Netanyahu said at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday.
It was a new indication Israel is working in tandem with the Trump Administration to contain the increasing Iranian threat to the country and to world peace in general.