Trump Says Does Not Want War with Iran

TEHRAN (defapress) – US President Donald Trump said he does not want, or foresee, war with Iran, after he earlier threatened to retaliate against the country following recent protests in Iraq.

News ID: 79746

Date: 01 January 2020 - 17:30

Asked about the possibility of tensions spiraling into a war with Iran, Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, “Do I want to? No. I want to have peace. I like peace. And Iran should want to have peace more than anybody. So I don’t see that happening," Reuters reported.

In response to US accusations, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman called on the White House to quit its destructive policies in the region.

“The surprising impudence of the American authorities is at such a level that after slaughtering at least 25 people, wounding many Iraqi people, inflicting financial damages on Iraq and violating the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, they (Americans) are now blaming the Islamic Republic of Iran for the protests from the Iraqi people against their own ferocious measures in a blatant and cheap act of pinning the blame on others,” Abbas Mousavi said.

On Sunday, US forces conducted drone strikes on a number of Kata'ib Hezbollah bases in Iraq's western Anbar province, killing at least 25 individuals and leaving another 51 injured, according to the PMU (Popular Mobilization Units).

Following the strikes, the Pentagon issued a statement saying that it had targeted three locations of the Iraqi fighters in Iraq and two in Syria in response to alleged attacks targeting American forces.

Kata’ib Hezbollah is part of the PMU. The PMU, also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, played a key role in defeating the Daesh terrorist group that had occupied parts of Iraq since 2014.

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