Tasnim – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would make any “contradictory” claims against Iran as the occasion may demand to either demonize the Islamic Republic or push for “regime change” in the country.

“Flip-flop par excellence: one day US claims Iran on verge of collapse, the next we’re demonized as a ‘Great Power’ that threatens NATO. @SecPompeo & his boss will make any contradictory claim that fits an occasion. In contrast, Iran is consistently responsible & peace-seeking,” Zarif tweeted on Saturday.

The tweet came after Pompeo on Friday appealed for unity to confront “great power” challenges from Russia, China and Iran on the 70th anniversary of NATO.

“We have rightly sought peace through strength here in Nato. We must continue to do so, especially in this new era of great power competition from Russia, from China, and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he told a meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers.

Zarif’s tweet also was referring to remarks by Trump back in 2018 who claimed Iran was vulnerable to collapse and that tough US economic sanctions could hasten it.

“When I came in here, it was a question of when would they (Iranians) take over the Middle East,” said Trump on November 10. “Now it's a question of will they survive.”

In May 2018, the US president pulled his country out of the JCPOA, the nuclear deal that was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

Trump on August 6 signed an executive order re-imposing many sanctions on Iran, three months after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.

He said the US policy is to levy “maximum economic pressure” on the country. The second batch of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic took effect on November 4.

Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.