WORLD / MID-EAST
Zarif dismisses Tehran behind recent US Embassy attack
Published: Dec 24, 2020 06:13 PM
Iran's foreign minister on Thursday dismissed US President Donald Trump's allegations that Iran was behind the recent rocket attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad.

"Putting your own citizens at risk abroad won't divert attention from catastrophic failures at home," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

Trump, without giving evidence, said on Twitter on Wednesday that the rockets that landed in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone on Sunday, in an attack targeting the US Embassy, were from Iran and "we hear chatter of additional attacks against Americans in Iraq."

"Some friendly health ­advice to Iran: If one ­American is killed, I will hold Iran ­responsible. Think it over," Trump said.

The Iraqi military blamed the attack, which caused some minor damage, on an "outlaw group."

Top US national security officials agreed Wednesday on a proposed range of options to present to Trump aimed at deterring any attack on US military or diplomatic personnel in Iraq, a senior administration official said, without describing the content of the options or say whether they included military action.

Iran had earlier responded by calling on US authorities not to provoke "tensions."

Trump ordered a drone attack on January 3, 2020 to kill the powerful Iranian general while he was in Baghdad. 

The airstrike came after militias had fired rockets at US targets in Iraq, in a scenario echoed by the latest strikes against the US embassy.