Trump says war would lead to 'end' of Iran - USA TODAY

Kim Hjelmgaard USA TODAY

Published 5:06 AM EDT May 20, 2019

President Donald Trump issued a strong warning to Iran early Monday, saying that it would face its "official end" if a war broke out between the two countries.

"Never again threaten the United States," Trump said in a tweet shortly after a rocket landed near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, overnight.

Trump's comments came after he has seemingly sought to soften his tone on Iran in recent days following heightened tension sparked by a sudden deployment of U.S. bombers and an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf over unspecified threats.

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Iraq's military said the Katyusha rocket that landed in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone less than a mile from the U.S. Embassy, causing no injures, was believed to have been fired from east Baghdad. The area is home to Iran-backed Shiite militias.

Congress is expected to get a classified briefing on Iran on Tuesday after Democratic and Republican lawmakers requested more information from the White House about the intelligence that has led to the growing U.S. military footprint in the Gulf. The State Department ordered a partial evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad last week.

In an interview with Fox News broadcast on Sunday, Trump said he was not seeking a conflict with Iran but he also vowed not to let it develop nuclear weapons.

"I'm not somebody that wants to go into war, because war hurts economies, war kills people most importantly – by far most importantly," the president said.

Officials in Iran have also downplayed Tehran's appetite for war.

"There will not be a war since neither we want a war nor does anyone have the illusion they can confront Iran in the region," Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the Middle East country's state news agency Irna over the weekend.

There has been no official reaction to Trump's Monday tweet.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have escalated one year after Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and reimposed sanctions that have severely harmed its economy. Tehran has demanded that European signatories to the nuclear accord – France, Germany and the United Kingdom – find a way of keeping the agreement alive or it will again start enriching uranium at levels sufficient to pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

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