Be careful of trap, Israel may provoke war with attacks on US forces: Iran to Trump

Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Saturday accused Israel of trying to provoke a war. He said that  Israel may try to do so by planning attacks on US forces in Iraq.

"New intelligence from Iraq indicate that Israeli agent-provocateurs are plotting attacks against Americans — putting an outgoing (President Donald) Trump in a bind with a fake casus belli (act justifying war)," tweeted Zarif.

"Be careful of a trap, @realDonaldTrump. Any fireworks will backfire badly," Zarif wrote.

A lot of muscle-flexing was observed from Iran on January 2, 2021, just a day before completion of one year to assassination of top Iran commander Qassem Soleimani. On January 3, 2020 Soleimani was killed in US drone attack in Baghdad.

On Saturday, Iran Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami vowed to respond any "action the enemy takes". He was visiting a strategic gulf island.

"We are here today to evaluate and be assured of our powerful capabilities at sea and against enemies who sometimes boast... and threaten," Salami said, according to the Guards' official website Sepahnews.

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Salami inspected troops stationed on Abu Musa island, accompanied by the Revolutionary Guard Corps navy commander Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri.

"We would respond with a reciprocal, decisive and strong blow to whatever action the enemy would take against us," Salami warned.

Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunb islands are located in the Gulf near the entrance to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world oil output passes. 

(With AFP inputs)