US Vice President Mike Pence attacked the Iranian regime and its recent threats, saying that the United States would not tolerate Iran sowing violence or terror across the world.
In a news conference in Pennsylvania on Monday, Pence stated that the US will not be lenient with violence practiced by Iran and terrorism promoted by it.
Newspapers and TV channels followed up on the war of words between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and US President Donald Trump. Rouhani had warned Washington that it would face the “mother of all wars” if the US goes ahead with its plans to impose sanctions and prevent Iran from exporting oil.
Rouhani hinted at closing the marine routes, such as the Strait of Hormuz.
In return, Trump tweeted: “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!"
Several analysts of Iranian policies interpreted Trump’s tweet as an intimidation attempt, saying that a real confrontation or war is unlikely between Iran and the US.
Hassan Yari, a political-science professor at Queen's University, said that the Iranian regime chanted “death to America” for 40 years, and it cannot back down now.
Barbara Slavin, the director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, ruled out the eruption of a war between Iran and US because it serves no one’s interest. A conflict over the Hormuz Strait was possible, she added.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ships had provoked the fifth US fleet conducting patrols in the water canal during the past years. The strait was the scene of unrest in 1988 when the US Navy destroyed three Iranian warships and two oil platforms.
