Top Iran diplomat warns US it cannot 'expect to stay safe'

Iran's foreign minister warned the US on Monday that it "cannot expect to stay safe" after launching what he described as an economic war against Tehran, taking a hard-line stance amid a visit by Germany's top diplomat seeking to defuse tensions.

A stern-faced Mohammad Javad Zarif offered a series of threats over the ongoing tensions gripping the Persian Gulf. The crisis takes root in President Donald Trump's decision over a year ago to withdraw America from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Trump also reinstated tough sanctions on Iran, targeting its oil sector.

"Trump himself has announced that the US has launched an economic war against Iran," Zarif said. "The only solution for reducing tensions in this region is stopping that economic war."
He also warned: "Whoever starts a war with us will not be the one who finishes it."
"Israel's right to exist is part of Germany's founding principle and is completely non-negotiable," Maas said. "It is a result of our history and it's irrevocable and doesn't just change because I am currently in Tehran."
"We haven't put much hope in INSTEX," spokesman Abbas Mousavi said, according to Iranian state television. "If INSTEX was going to help us, it would have done so already."
In late May, the UN nuclear watchdog said that "up to 33" more advanced IR-6 centrifuges have been installed and that "technical discussions in relation to the IR-6 centrifuges are ongoing."