The Latest: Trump tweets as US ramps up pressure on Iran

In this photo released by official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani attends a meeting with a group of foreign ministry officials in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, July 22, 2018. Rouhani warned President Donald Trump against provoking his country while indicating peace between the two nations might still be possible. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

In this photo released by official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani attends a meeting with a group of foreign ministry officials in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, July 22, 2018. Rouhani warned President Donald Trump against provoking his country while indicating peace between the two nations might still be possible. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on escalating rhetoric between Washington and Tehran (all times local):

8:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s explosive Twitter threat to Iran’s leader comes as his administration is ratcheting up a pressure campaign on the Islamic republic.

Trump’s bellicose, all-caps challenge late Sunday to President Hassan Rouhani followed a speech by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in which he accused Iran’s leadership of massive corruption and widespread rights abuses and urged Iranians to rise up in protest.

Both the tweet and the speech landed less than two weeks before the administration will begin re-imposing sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal.

Trump tweeted Sunday that if Iran threatened the U.S. it would “SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded Monday on Twitter, writing, “COLOR US UNIMPRESSED.”

ADVERTISEMENT

__

10 a.m.

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser is echoing the combative warning to Iran against deploying any more threatening language toward the U.S.

Ambassador John Bolton says he’s spoken with Trump over the last several days and, “President Trump told me that if Iran does anything at all to the negative, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid before.”

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders declines to say whether Trump had consulted with national security aides before sending his all-caps Sunday night tweet that warned Iran might “SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”

She says: “The president consults with his national security team on a daily basis.”

__

8:10 a.m.

The White House says President Donald Trump’s threatening tweet shows he’s not going to tolerate critical rhetoric from Iran, but claims the U.S. leader isn’t escalating tensions between the two countries.

Press secretary Sarah Sanders says that “if anybody’s inciting anything, look no further than to Iran.”

Sanders said on Monday that Trump has been “very clear about what he’s not going to allow to take place.”

Her comments follow a late-night tweet from the president Sunday addressed to Iran’s leaders: “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”

Trump was responding to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani comments that “America must understand well that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”

Sanders says Trump is not trying to change the conversation from his much-criticized Helsinki summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

ADVERTISEMENT

___

7:15 a.m.

A prominent Lebanese analyst says he is concerned the latest harsh words exchanged by the U.S. and Iranian presidents have brought the two countries to the brink of war.

Kamel Wazne says Iran cannot trusts America after President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the nuclear deal with world powers and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.

Wazne says Iran could well go to war to protect its oil exports, the foundation of its economy.

He says: “Iran has said very clearly that any war with them will be very costly, and this means American bases throughout the region could be a target.”

Wazne, the director of American Strategic Studies institute in Beirut, warned that “it needs just one mistake to have a major regional war.”

___

6:30 a.m.

Germany is calling for restraint amid escalating rhetoric between the leaders of Iran and the United States.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Christofer Burger told reporters in Berlin on Monday: “We support dialogue and talks, and we call on all sides to exercise restraint and rhetorical disarmament.”

President Donald Trump tweeted late Sunday that hostile threats from Iran could bring dire consequences. Earlier in the day, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said America “must understand well that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”

Burger said that “threats of military force are never helpful, and I think that particularly in the tense situation in the Middle East this is not a helpful means of discourse.”

___

5 a.m.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is praising President Donald Trump for his “strong stance” on Iran.

Netanyahu says that Trump and his secretary of state were taking a clear position against “Iranian aggression” after years in which the “regime was pampered by world powers.”

The Israeli prime minister spoke at his weekly Cabinet meeting Monday, after Trump the previous night warned Iranian President Hassan Rouhani of dire consequences for threatening the United States.

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.”

Trump earlier this year pulled the United States out of the international deal meant to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon and ordered increased American sanctions.

___

4:35 a.m.

A prominent Iranian political analyst is downplaying President Donald Trump’s warning to Iran and the escalating rhetoric, saying they were in his opinion “the storm before the calm.”

Seed Leilaz told The Associated Press on Monday that he isn’t “worried about the remarks and tweets,” which he described as propaganda.

According to Leilaz, Trump’s attitude so far has been different from his words” and it’s “unlikely such a tweet will have any impact inside Iran.”

The analyst added that “neither Iran, nor any other country is interested in escalating tensions in the region.”

He cited the harsh words between the U.S. and North Korea that preceded the high profile summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and denuclearization talks.

Leilaz says Trump and Kim got “closer” despite their previous warring words.

___

3:30 a.m.

A high-ranking Iranian officer says President Donald Trump’s warning of unprecedented “consequences” for Iran, should it threaten the United States, is nothing but “psychological warfare.”

Gen. Gholam Hossein Gheibparvar, the chief of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer Basij force, also said on Monday that Trump “won’t dare” take any military action against Iran. Gheibparvar’s comments were reported by the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Iranian lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told The Associated Press that he doubted it would come to a military confrontation between Iran and the United States, despite the escalating rhetoric.

Falahatpisheh says that Trump and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani “express themselves through speeches since diplomatic channels are closed” as the two countries have had no diplomatic relations since 1979.

He says that unlike North Korea, “Iran never moved toward a nuclear bomb” and that therefore, “Iran is angry since Trump responded to Tehran’s engagement diplomacy by pulling the U.S. out of the nuclear deal.”

___

2:30 a.m.

Iran’s state-owned news agency has dismissed President Donald Trump’s warning tweet, issued all in capital letters, to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, describing it as a “passive reaction” to Rouhani’s remarks.

The IRNA news agency, a government mouthpiece, also said on Monday that Trump’s Twitter missive was only mimicking and copying Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who had in the past warned the West to “never threaten an Iranian.”

Rouhani had said Sunday that “American must understand well that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”

Trump responded early Monday with a tweet that warned: “NEVER EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKE OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”

___

12:40 a.m.

President Donald Trump is warning Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that he will face dire consequences for threatening the United States.

Trump tweeted early Monday about the dangers to Iran of making hostile threats after Rouhani said Sunday “American must understand well that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.” Trump responded early Monday with a tweet that warned: “NEVER EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKE OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”

Trump earlier this year pulled the United States out of the international deal meant to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon and ordered increased American sanctions.