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(Reuters) – Iran 's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday denied his country' s responsibility for growing threats against a US consulate in Basra, Iraq.
PHOTO FILE: Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif smiles at a meeting with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis in Bern, Switzerland, on July 2, 2018. REUTERS / Denis Balibouse / Photo File
"Of course we have an influence in Iraq, but that does not mean that we control the Iraqis, because the United States does not control the inhabitants of the countries with which they have good relations," said Zarif in the GPS. Fareed Zakaria "from CNN.
Zarif added that recent warnings to the Iranian government by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House National Security Advisor John Bolton were counterproductive.
"Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Bolton, instead of making these irrelevant threats that would not produce any positive results, need to look at their own policies," Zarif said.
The United States announced Friday that it would close the consulate following the growing threats from Iran and Iran-backed militias, including rocket fire.
Pompeo, as he explained, reiterated the warning that the United States would blame Iran for direct responsibility for any attack on American and American diplomatic facilities.
"I said that Iran had to understand that the United States would react quickly and appropriately to such attacks," Pompeo said in a statement.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said Saturday that the closure of the consulate was "unjustified and unnecessary," and said Iran condemned any attack on diplomats or diplomatic premises, according to Iran's Foreign Ministry. the ministry's website.
Report by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Lisa Shumaker
