U.S. President Donald Trump made a strongly worded Twitter post accusing Iran as behind the attacks on the U.S. embassy compound in Iraq. But Iranian Ayatollah Khamenei remained unflustered and even posted a message of his own on social taunting Trump that there’s nothing he can do about it.
“Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities,” Donald Trump tweeted accusing Iran as behind the horde of angry demonstrators that stormed the U.S. Embassy in Iraq on Tuesday. “They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!”
But Iranian leader was not cowered by Trump’s threat on social media. In fact, he tweeted a message of his own taunting his U.S. counterpart and pointing out that Iran had nothing to do with the embassy attack since America is hated by most people in the region.
“First of all, you can't do a damn thing!” Ayatollah Khamenei via his English language Twitter account, according to Daily Mail. “This has nothing to do with Iran. Secondly, be logical… The people of this region hate America. Why don't Americans understand this?”
Khamenei later added that it is the U.S. that committed various crimes in the past. “You Americans have committed crimes in Iraq, you have committed crimes in Afghanistan,” the Iranian leader said. “You have killed people. If the Islamic republic decides to oppose or fight against a country, it will do this explicitly.”
According to BBC, last Tuesday’s attack on the U.S. embassy was in retaliation to the militia fighters kills in the recent airstrike done by America. Around 25 persons were killed when the U.S. bombed Kataib Hezbollah militia bases in eastern Syria and western Iraq on Sunday.
The U.S. responded by immediately sending 750 troops from a rapid response unit of the 82nd Airborne Division, Aljazeera reported. “This deployment is an appropriate and precautionary action taken in response to increased threat levels against US personnel and facilities, such as we witnessed in Baghdad today,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in a statement.