In a pre-taped CNN interview that aired on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said President Donald Trump’s drone strike on high-ranking military leader Qasem Soleimani was an act of “state terrorism.”
“They killed one of our most revered commanders and most senior commanders,” Zarif told CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen. “And they took responsibility for it. This is state terrorism.”
The Iranian official vowed that Tehran “will respond” to Trump’s attack.
“But we will respond proportionately, not disproportionately, because we are committed to law,” he added. “We are law-abiding people. We’re not lawless like President Trump.”
In his efforts to prod Iran into war, Trump has threatened to strike at the Middle Eastern nation “perhaps in a disproportionate manner” and also destroy its sites of cultural significance, which is considered a war crime.
Watch Zarif below:
Iran's foreign minister slams Trump's strike on Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani: "This is state terrorism." pic.twitter.com/Yksh5u8gyz
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) January 7, 2020
Michelle Goldberg nails it.
You’d think Iran would be an expert on the subject, but…
Trump’s skin is so, so thin that everyone can get under it. Remember during the campaign the claim that he “lacks Presidential temperament?” We were warned.
Good
It’s weird to me that Iran could be the one that gives trump the final push off the cliff.
But, we live in interesting times, and yes I know that’s actually a curse.