US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded to Iran’s threat of “all-out war” by insisting the US wants a “peaceful resolution” to mounting tensions over airstrikes on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, according to reports Thursday.
Pompeo – who on Wednesday called the drone and missile attacks an “act of war” by Iran – condemned the Iranian warning following a meeting in Abu Dhabi with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.
“While the foreign minister of Iran is threatening an all-out war and to fight to the last American, we are here to build out a coalition aimed at achieving peace and peaceful resolution,” Pompeo told reporters, according to the Washington Post.
Pompeo also said, “I hope the Islamic Republic of Iran sees it the same way,” according to Abu Dhabi’s “The National.”
Pompeo, who met Wednesday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said there’s “enormous consensus in the region that we know precisely who conducted these attacks, and it’s Iran,” according to the Post.
He also echoed President Trump’s Wednesday announcement of additional sanctions on Iran, saying they were intended “to prevent its continued support for terrorism to groups such as Hezbollah,” The National said.
Earlier Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif told CNN that there would be “all-out war” with “a lot of casualties” if the US or Saudi Arabia attacked Iran over Saturday’s airstrikes, for which Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility.
“I am making a very serious statement that we don’t want to engage in a military confrontation….But we won’t blink to defend our territory,” Zarif said.