WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump took to Twitter late Sunday to issue a fiery, all-caps warning to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who told Trump hours earlier to stop "playing with the lion's tail ... or else you will regret it."
"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 wrote in the 11:24 p.m. tweet. "WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!"
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. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2018
Update 3 p.m. EDT July 23: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a news briefing Monday that the president's statement on Twitter earlier in the day was consistent with the president's previous comments to Iran.
"The president's been, I think, pretty strong since day 1 in his language toward Iran," she said. "He was responding to comments made from them, and he's going to continue to focus on the safety and security of the American people."
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on President Trump’s explosive tweet about Iran: “He is going to continue to focus on the safety and security of the American people” https://t.co/2IIiRIKIHT
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 23, 2018
Original report: Iranian state media called Trump's tweet "passive" and said he was just imitating previous remarks from Iranian leaders, The Associated Press reported.
Trump's comments came after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a speech slamming Iran, comparing its government to the mafia and accusing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, of having "his own personal, off-the-books hedge fund called the Setad, worth $95 billion."
"Sometimes it seems the world has become desensitized to the regime's authoritarianism at home and its campaigns of violence abroad, but the proud Iranian people are not staying silent about their government's many abuses – and the United States under President Trump will not stay silent, either," Pompeo said Sunday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library in Simi Valley, California. "In light of these protests and 40 years of regime tyranny, I have a message for the people of Iran: The United States hears you; the United States supports you; the United States is with you."
Pompeo's official Twitter account later shared several quotes from the speech.
پس از #چهل_سال بیداد، مردم پر افتخار ایران درمورد سوء استفاده های حکومتشان ساکت نمی نشینند. ما هم ساکت نخواهیم ماند. من پیامی برای #مردم_ایران دارم: ایالات متحده صدای شما را می شنود. ایالات متحده از شما حمایت می کند. #ایالات_متحده با شماست. pic.twitter.com/kyKEgZ0BGB
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) July 23, 2018
ایدئولوژی #رژیم_ایران ایرانیان را چنان خشمگین کرده که نمی توانند کشورشان را نرمال بخوانند. #قانون_اساسی ای که نابودی همسایه اش را تقدیس می کند نرمال نیست. #شکنجه مردمش نرمال نیست. بزرگترین کشور #حامی_تروریسم بودن، نرمال نیست. pic.twitter.com/ZqEbwhjabX
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) July 23, 2018
میوه #چهل_سال #انقلاب_اسلامی ایران تلخ بوده است. چهل سال #دزدسالاری. چهل سال که ثروت مردم صرف #تروریسم شده است. چهل سال که ایرانیان به خاطر ابراز حقوقشان محبوس شده اند. ما امیدواریم چهل سال بعدی توام با #آزادی باشد، نه #سرکوب. pic.twitter.com/UNEZIqyrMw
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) July 23, 2018
The rial is plummeting. A third of #Iran's youth are unemployed. A third of Iranians live below the poverty line. But if you’re a politically-connected member of the regime's elite, the Iranian economy is going great. pic.twitter.com/NCfyv3rCn1
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) July 23, 2018
– The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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