Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that Iran’s missile strikes Thursday night could just be the beginning of its retaliation against the U.S. “if America wants to commit another crime.”
Rouhani’s remarks come a few hours after President Trump announced “punishing economic sanctions” against Iran during a Wednesday morning address during which he added that the nation “appears to be standing down.”
According to a CNN report Wednesday, Rouhani said during a cabinet meeting that “if America commits a crime, no matter how much she threatens us, she must know that we will act decisively as we have already shown.”
Rouhani then clarified his comment by saying that “from now on if America wants to commit another crime, must know that they will receive a stronger reaction,” according to CNN.
“If they [the U.S.] find that they have a problem anywhere in the world, do not say it was ordered by Iran,” Rouhani said, according to CNN. “If tomorrow something in another country happens, Americans would say this is the action of proxy forces of Iran. We do not have any proxy forces.”
Rouhani added that “from the beginning, Americans had it wrong” and said that “the people of the region are aware, free and act on their own.”
“They are not under our control or order,” Rouhani said, according to CNN.
On Tuesday night, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif stated that Tehran had “concluded” its retaliatory attacks against the U.S. in response to the Trump-authorized strike that killed top Iranian military official Qasem Soleimani last week.
Read CNN’s report here.
