Iranian foreign minister dismisses US senator’s ‘personal smear’

Iran’s foreign minister dismissed Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) challenge to “debate Iran’s record of tyranny, treachery and terror” on Thursday. 

“Serious diplomacy, not macho personal smear, is what we need,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter, before congratulating Cotton on the recent birth of his first child.

Serious diplomacy, not macho personal smear, is what we need. Congrats on Ur new born. May U and Ur family enjoy him in peace .@SenTomCotton

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) April 30, 2015

{mosads}On Wednesday, Cotton issued the challenge to Zarif and mocked what he said was Zarif’s decision to hide “in U.S. during Iran-Iraq war while peasants & kids were marched to die.”

He was responding to Zarif’s comments that U.S. sanctions relief would take place after a deal was reached over Iran’s nuclear program whether Cotton “likes it or not.”

Cotton is a staunch opponent of a deal and drew criticism earlier this year, when he spearheaded an “open letter” to Iran’s leaders that purported to explain the U.S.’s constitutional system.