TEHRAN - Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), on Saturday advised the U.S. secretary of state that it is better for Washington to admit defeat in the face of Iran instead of making “stupid bluffing”.

“Mike Pompeo, the United States’ secretary of state, has said they have changed behavior towards Iran, because only strength works on it and not appeasement. It has been for more than 40 years that you have used your strength to defeat Iran, however you have failed. It is better to admit defeat towards Iran instead of stupid bluffing,” Shamkhani tweeted.

Pompeo said during a speech at the Ron Pearson Center in Iowa on Friday, “We’ve also fundamentally changed the way America treats the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

He claimed that the 2015 nuclear deal gave Iran more money, presenting risk to the United States and others in West Asia.

He claimed that the Iranian government only responds to strength, not to appeasement.

“So we flipped what the previous administration was doing. We ditched the deal and implemented a brand new Iran policy,” he said.

Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, the commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), has said that Iran is under great diplomatic and economic pressure, however, he does not consider Iran any less threatening against the U.S.

“I don’t consider Iran any less threatening right now than they were several months ago,” McKenzie told VOA on Wednesday.

“Iran realizes they’re not going to, probably not going to be able to get us out [of Iraq] politically. So, they’ve got to make a decision: Do they want to move us out through the use of force? And that would be through the use of their proxy forces… that we know operate in Iraq and have actually been very well armed,” he said.

NA/PA