TEHRAN – Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says his American counterpart, Secretary of States Mike Pompeo, has it the other way around when it comes to who wishes to “fight to the last American”.

“@SecPompeo has it the other way around,” Zarif tweeted on Friday. “It’s not #Iran that wishes to fight to the last American; rather, it is his #B_Team hosts who seem to wish to fight Iran to the last American.”

“Iran has no desire for war, but we will, and always have, defend our people and our nation,” he added.

Zarif has in the past said that a “B-Team” including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and former U.S. national security advisor John Bolton could goad the U.S. president into a conflict with Tehran.

The Iranian foreign minister was responding to a statement a day earlier by Pompeo during a visit to Abu Dhabi that: “While the foreign minister of Iran is threatening all-out war and to fight to the last American, we’re here to build up a coalition aimed at achieving peace.”

Pompeo, however, repeated his baseless claims of Iran being behind the recent attacks on two Saudi Aramco oil facilities that knocked out more than half of the kingdom’s production.  

He also threatened that Washington would impose more sanctions on Tehran.

Pompeo on Wednesday visited Saudi Arabia to hold talks with Washington’s allies in Riyadh where he described the attack on Saudi oil facilities as “an act of war”.

MH/PA