TEHRAN – Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani delivered a warning on Sunday to certain regional countries backing the United States’ antagonism towards Iran.

Upon Washington’s announcement on April 22 that it would be trying to reduce Iran’s oil exports to “zero,” Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have said they would make up for potential shortages of Iranian crude.

“Some of the region’s countries should pay close heed. Apparently, some of them cannot be reasoned with. We are going to settle our account with them,” the top lawmaker asserted.

‘U.S., vassal states after fanning terrorism across region’ 

Larijani also said the United States is after fueling terrorism in the region through further intervention and cooperation with some “vassal states.”

The instances of American meddling have become “numerous and unbridled,” Ali Larijani warned during a speech at an international conference called “The Future of the Islamic World in the Horizon of 2035,” in Tehran on Sunday, Press TV reported.

Larijani further said the actions the U.S. takes together with some regional countries in order to breed terrorism have led to “internal complexities” in some countries and heavily damaged their economies.

Larijani to Trump: “You are cutting your own throat with your own hands.”
 

Iran, however, “has never had a policy of aggression against any country on its agenda,” Larijani said.

Tehran, he added, had not even pursued a policy of reprisal against those committing such aggression against it and sought increased cooperation among those “who have realized their mistakes.”

He cited the example of Saudi Arabia, which helped out former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in his 1980-88 deadly war on Iran. Such support, Larijani added, was to the detriment of the kingdom itself, as a Saudi official once admitted, and saw Iraq under Saddam later launch attacks against Kuwait and parts of Saudi Arabia.

“Iran has never been after taking revenge and has constantly sought cooperation with those who have realized their mistake,” he added.

‘Iranians to make U.S. regret its deeds’

Separately, the top legislator commented on the U.S.’s policy of “maximum pressure” against Iran, hotly pursued under President Donald Trump.

Trump has recently tightened oil sanctions against Iran and designated its Islamic Revolution Guards Corps a “foreign terrorist organization.”

Addressing Trump, Larijani said, “We’re going to make you regret [what you have done]. You are cutting your own throat with your own hands. Certainly, our resilience is going to make you regretful.”

The U.S. left a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran in 2017 and began returning the sanctions that had been lifted under the historical accord, signed two years earlier. In November 2018, it started targeting Iran’s oil and banking sector with the bans, but offered waivers to major importers of the crude, fearing market instability.

Washington said earlier that it would not be extending the waivers from May 2 onwards.

“This creature (the U.S. president) reckons that he is farseeing and that his actions are to the United States’ benefit, but he cannot see beyond the end of his nose, and will make the world more distrustful of the U.S.,” Larijani stated.

He stressed that the Iranian people would stand tall as they did during the Western-backed Iraqi war and prevented the country’s occupation. “They will stand tall again and keep on their path forward,” the official said.

SP/PA