Standoff between Donald Trump and Iran escalates dramatically as US President imposes SANCTIONS and warns leaders they are ‘playing with fire
A STANDOFF between Donald Trump and Iran has escalated dramatically after the US President imposed sanctions and warned leaders they are "playing with fire".
The Trump administration imposed sanctions on 13 people and a dozen companies in response to Iran's recent ballistic missile test.
The US President Trump tweeted: "Iran is playing with fire - they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!"
But, responding to the tweet Iran's foreign minister said his country will "never initiate war" despite facing threats, in reference to US warnings over its missile tests.
The war of words, played out over social media, comes after US national security adviser, Michael Flynn, said the administration was putting Iran "on notice" for its missile test Sunday and for supporting Shiite rebels in Yemen.
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Foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran was "unmoved by threats as we derive security from our people. We'll never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defence."
He added: "We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defence. Let us see if any of those who complain can make the same statement."
On Thursday, Trump said "nothing is off the table" when a journalist asked him whether military action against Iran was an option.
Iran has confirmed it tested a ballistic missile, but denied that it violated the terms of a UN Security Council resolution on its nuclear programme.
It also denounced the Trump administration's warnings as "baseless" and "provocative".
On Friday, Iran's foreign ministry said it had refused visas for US athletes due to compete in a wrestling tournament in the country in response to Trump's travel ban on seven mainly Muslim nations.
"Considering the policies adopted by the new US administration, the foreign ministry was inevitably forced to refuse travel by the US wrestling team to Iran," ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
Trump signed an executive order a week ago barring entry of all refugees to the US for 120 days, Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocking citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry for 90 days.
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