Zarif tweeted Trump, telling him to reject the ‘B-Team’s’ advice, a term the Iranian foreign minister uses to describe a group that favors a tough approach to the Islamic Republic.
By David Isaac, World Israel News
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif directed a tweet to President Donald Trump on Tuesday telling him to “reject B Team’s fake history & its thirst for Forever War.”
Iran’s Tasmin News Agency reported that the tweet came in response to one by Trump earlier on Tuesday that “the Iranians never won a war, but never lost a negotiation,” likely referring to the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by then-President Barack Obama.
Zarif’s full tweet read: “For millennia, Iranians have outlasted every aggressor. But, the US has spent $7 trillion & rivers of blood in our region, in its biggest failure since Vietnam. Donald Trump: reject B Team’s fake history & its thirst for Forever War. Diplomacy=prudence; never weakness.”
“B-team” is a term often used by Zarif, Tasnim reports. It refers to a group of politicians which Iran’s leadership says is eager for war. The ‘B’ comes from the letter “B” in all the names of those lumped into the group, the Iranian news site says.
They include U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Tensions with Iran have been on the rise ever since Trump, who referred to the 2015 nuclear agreement as the “worst deal ever” and a “disaster,” announced America’s exit from it in May 2018.
He reimposed sanctions on Iran, gradually increasing their intensity in order to pressure the Islamic Republic to return to the bargaining table and give up its dream of obtaining nuclear weapons.
A White House statement this summer reaffirmed the U.S. position that it would “never allow” Iran to develop a nuclear arsenal.
On July 1, Trump said that Iran was “playing with fire” after it announced it would restart its uranium enrichment in violation of the nuclear agreement.
Although the U.S. pulled out of the agreement, Iran and its European signatories continued to treat the deal as remaining in force.
European countries are eager to save the agreement. But as tensions escalate in the Persian Gulf it looks increasingly unlikely.