TEHRAN – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has issued a mocking response to President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would stick by Saudi Arabia despite the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“Mr. Trump bizarrely devotes the FIRST paragraph of his shameful statement on Saudi atrocities to accuse IRAN of every sort of malfeasance he can think of,” Zarif wrote on Twitter late Tuesday.
Trump’s statement on Saudi Arabia did indeed open with a litany of complaints against Iran, which he used to justify his continued backing of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
“Perhaps we’re also responsible for the California fires, because we didn’t help rake the forests,” Zarif added.
This was a reference to recent mockery of Trump for his claim that forest fires — such as those that have hit northern California in recent days — could be prevented with “more raking and cleaning and doing things”.
Trump has resisted mounting evidence of Saudi government involvement in the Khashoggi killing — including from his own intelligence services.
“It could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” he wrote.
