Iran: Trump can’t be unpredictable and expect predictability from others

Iran’s foreign minister said Wednesday that President Trump’s “unpredictable” policies may force Tehran to respond in kind, according to Reuters.

“Mutual unpredictability will lead to chaos. President Trump cannot expect to be unpredictable and expect others to be predictable. Unpredictability will lead to mutual unpredictability and unpredictability is chaotic,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Wednesday at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

{mosads}Friction between the nations has escalated in recent months, including Iran announcing, about a year after the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, that it would scale back some of its own commitments under the agreement.

After Iran downed a U.S. drone in its airspace, Trump ordered a retaliatory strike before canceling it at the last minute.

More recently, the U.S. has attempted to form a coalition with allies to guard oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has seized ships on suspicion of smuggling fuel.

Zarif also took a shot at nations like Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the U.S., saying “Gulf Arabs cannot achieve security [in the region] by spending billions of dollars on purchasing Western weapons … No amount of foreign military presence [in the Gulf] can prevent insecurity,” according to Reuters.

“[If you] want to talk about security, don’t send flotillas to the Persian Gulf. This is a small body of water. By sending flotillas, you do not protect freedom of navigation, you impede freedom of navigation,” he added.