The White House on Monday blamed Iran for escalating tensions with the U.S., claiming President Trump’s overnight threat was simply intended to show will no longer tolerate the regime’s hostile rhetoric.
“If anybody’s inciting anything, look no further than to Iran,” press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters at the White House. “I’m not going to get into the president’s strategy, but I think he’s very clear about what he’s not going to allow to take place.”
Her comments came less than 12 hours after Trump posted an all-caps tweet directed at Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who recently said Americans “must understand well that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”
“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.
National security adviser John Bolton confirmed Trump’s stance. “I spoke to the president over the last several days,” Bolton said, “and President Trump told me that if Iran does anything at all to the negative, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid before.”
Sanders denied that the president’s apocalyptic tweet was meant to change the subject from Russia, a topic that caused the White House a major headache following Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.
“I think the president has the ability unlike a lot of those in the media to actually focus on more than one issue at a time,” she said.
