Having Failed at ‘Max Pressure’, US Turning to ‘Max Deceit’ against Iran: Zarif
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s foreign minister said Yemen’s retaliatory attacks against Saudi Arabia have prompted the Trump administration to turn to “maximum deceit” against Tehran after Washington’s so-called “maximum pressure” campaign failed.
“Having failed at "max pressure", @SecPompeo's turning to "max deceit". US & its clients are stuck in Yemen because of illusion that weapon superiority will lead to military victory. Blaming Iran won't end disaster. Accepting our April '15 proposal to end war & begin talks may,” Zarif tweeted on Sunday.
The spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces said on Saturday that the Arab country’s combat drones had launched a large-scale drone operation on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil facilities in response to Riyadh’s years-long military aggression, causing a partial halt in crude and gas production from the world’s top oil exporter.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took to Twitter to put the blame for Saturday’s operation on Iran, claiming, “Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia” and that “there is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.”
“The United States will work with our partners and allies to ensure that energy markets remain well supplied and Iran is held accountable for its aggression,” he added.
Pompeo’s tweet was, however, met with a wave of criticism on Twitter.
Replying to Pompeo, US Democratic senator Chris Murphy tweeted, “This is such irresponsible simplification and it’s how we get into dumb wars of choice.”
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement.
The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 91,000 lives over the past four and a half years.
