Donald Trump has threatened the “offiical end of Iran” in a tweet, after a Katyusha rocket was fired near the US Embassy in Iraq’s capital Baghdad on Sunday evening.
There were no casualties when the rocket landed less than one kilometer from the Embassy. It was the first rocket attack in the high-security Green Zone, where the Iraq Government and foreign officials are based, since September.
An Iraqi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasul, said the rocket was believed to have been fired from east Baghdad,where some Iran-supported militias are based. But a police source said the rocket was “fired from an open field” in south Baghdad.
Trump was unconcerned about the conflicting accounts as he tweeted, “If Iran wants to fight, that will the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again.”
Iran’s English-language Press TV reports on the Katyusha attack and Trump’s tweet. But, in line with the Iranian regime’s image of restraint amid the escalating tension, the site headlines, “Iraq Can Mediate Between Iran, US: Official”.
The article features a Sunday meeting between cleric Ammar al-Hakim, the Leader of the Iran-supported National Wisdom Movement, and Joey Hood, the US Chargé d’Affaires in Iraq.
Hakim implicitly hailed Trump’s high-profile declaration last week that phone numbers had been given to the Iranians i the hope of starting discussions: “These comments must serve as an introduction to achieving appropriate solutions and keeping the regional nations distant from war and blockade.”
The Iranian regime has rejected negotiations under pressure. The Supreme Leader said last Wednesday that they would be “poison”.
But Press TV also carries the comment of Iraqi lawmaker Hassan Fadas: “Iraq played the role of mediation, and is still communicating with US and Iranian, to bring the views closer, and it is necessary to communicate with neighbors on this side.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards gave an alternative message on Sunday, saying Iran does not seek war but does not fear conflict with the US: “America is afraid of war and does not have the will for it”.
