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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iranians on Monday shrugged off the possibility that a bellicose exchange of words between President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart could escalate into military conflict, but expressed growing concern America's stepped-up sanctions could damage their fragile
In his latest salvo, Trump tweeted late on Sunday that hostile threats from Iran could bring about consequences.
This was after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani remarked earlier in the day that "American must understand well that peace with Iran "
Trump tweeted:" NEVER EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKE OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. "
Within hours, Iran's state-owned news agency IRNA dismissed the tweet, describing it as a "passive reaction" to Rouhani's remarks.
On Tehran streets, residents took t
"Both America and Iran have been attacked by one another," Shrugged Mohsen Taheri, a 58-year-old publisher
A headline on a local newspaper quoted Rouhani as saying : "Mr. Trump, do not play with the lion's tail. "
Prominent Iranian Political Analyst Seed Leilaz" The storm before the calm. "
Leilaz told the Associated Press "
Citing the United States and North Korea had exchanged before the high-profile summit Between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Leilaz said Trump and Kim got "closer" despite the warring words.
Meanwhile, Trump's tweet was reverberating across the Mideast.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US president's " Strong stance "after years in which the Iranian" was pampered by world powers. "
Trump this year pulled out of the international deal to prevent
With the economic pressure, Trump said earlier that "at a certain point they are going to call me and say" let's make a deal, 'and we'll make a deal. "
Iran has rejected talks with the US, and Rouhani has accused the US of stoking an" economic war. "
Rouhani also suggested Iran could immediately ramp up its production of uranium in response to US pressure. Potentially that would escalate the very situation the nuclear deal sought to avoid – an Iran with a stockpile of enriched uranium that could lead to making atomic bombs.
Trump's tweet suggests he has little patience with the trading of hostile messages with Iran, using exceptionally strong language and writing the all-capitalized tweet
"WE ARE NO LONGER TO COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTIA WORKS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH .. BE CAUTIOUS !," he wrote.
Another Tehran resident, Mehdi Naderi , 1965, "America is threatening the Iranian people with its sanctions and our government is doing the same with its incompetence and mismanagement," said the self -employed 35-year-old.
Trump has a history of firing off heated tweets that seem to quickly escalate long-standing disputes with leaders of nations at odds with the US
In the case of North Korea, the public war of words, quickly and slowly to the high profile summit and denuclearization talks. There is nothing tangible progress in a global push to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons program since the historic Trump-Kim summit on June 12.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to Pyongyang for follow-up talks this month, but the two sides showed conflicting accounts of the talks. North's Foreign Ministry accused the United States of making "gangster-like" claims for its unilateral disarmament.
Some experts say Kim is using diplomacy as a way to win outside concessions and weaken US-led international sanctions.
Many in Iran has expressed frustration that Trump has appeared willing to engage with North Korea, which has openly boasted of nuclear weapons, but not Iran, which signed the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
other nations involved – Germany, Britain, France, Russia and the European Union – have reaffirmed their support for the deal and have been working to keep Iran on board
"Iran is angry since Trump respond to Tehran's commitment diplomacy by pulling the US out of the nuclear deal, "Iranian lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told the AP.
He added, however, the war of words between the two presidents was to be expec
"They express themselves through speeches since diplomatic channels are closed," said Falahatpisheh who heads the influential parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy.
On Sunday in California, Pompeo was strongly critical of Iran, calling its religious leaders "hypocritical holy men" who amassed vast sums of wealth while allowing their people to suffer.
In the speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, Pompeo castigated Iran's political, judicial and military leaders, accusing several by name of participating in widespread corruption. He also said that the government has "heartlessly repressed its own people's rights, dignity and fundamental freedoms."
He said, "The proud Iranian people are not staying silent about their government's many abuses," Pompeo said
"And the United States under President Trump will not stay silent."
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Lester reported from Washington. Associated Press writers David Rising in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, Aron Heller in Jerusalem and Kim Hyung-jin in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
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