Zarif dismisses Trump tweet that Iran was behind attack on US Embassy in Baghdad

Iran’s foreign minister on Thursday dismissed US President Donald Trump’s allegations that Tehran was behind the recent rocket attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad.

“Putting your own citizens at risk abroad won’t divert attention from catastrophic failures at home,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

Trump said on Wednesday the rockets that landed in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Sunday, targeting the US Embassy, were from Iran and “we hear chatter of additional attacks against Americans in Iraq”.

“Some friendly health advice to Iran: If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over,” Trump said in a Twitter post.

In another tweet, Zarif said: “Last time, the US ruined our region over WMD (weapons of mass destruction) fabrications, wasting $7 TRILLION & causing 58,976 American casualties” - a reference to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

“Trump will bear full responsibility for any adventurism on his way out,” Zarif tweeted.

The Iraqi military blamed the rocket strike, which caused minor damage, on an “outlaw group”.

Top US national security officials agreed on Wednesday on a proposed range of options to present to Trump meant to deter any attack on US military or diplomatic personnel in Iraq, a senior administration official told Reuters, without describing the content of the options or say whether they included military action.