Iranian Foreign Minister Accuses Trump Of ‘State Terrorism’ Over Soleimani Assassination

on June 27, 2017 in Berlin, Germany.
Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks to the media following talks on June 27, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

In a pre-taped CNN interview that aired on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said President Donald Trump’s drone strike on high-ranking military leader Qasem Soleimani was an act of “state terrorism.”

“They killed one of our most revered commanders and most senior commanders,” Zarif told CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen. “And they took responsibility for it. This is state terrorism.”

The Iranian official vowed that Tehran “will respond” to Trump’s attack.

“But we will respond proportionately, not disproportionately, because we are committed to law,” he added. “We are law-abiding people. We’re not lawless like President Trump.”

In his efforts to prod Iran into war, Trump has threatened to strike at the Middle Eastern nation “perhaps in a disproportionate manner” and also destroy its sites of cultural significance, which is considered a war crime.

Watch Zarif below:

Latest News
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: