DUBAI, Sept 10 (Reuters) – An adviser to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s firing of his national security adviser John Bolton pointed to the failure of Washington’s “maximum pressure strategy” against Iran.
“The marginalisation and subsequent elimination of Bolton is not an accident but a decisive sign of the failure of the U.S. maximum pressure strategy in the face of the constructive resistance of Iran,” Hesameddin Ashena tweeted.
Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, said last week more sanctions against Iran were coming and the United States was committed to its campaign of “maximum pressure”.
“John Bolton had promised months ago that Iran would last for another three months. We are still standing and he is gone,” Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on Twitter.
“With the expulsion of the biggest proponent of war and economic terrorism, the White House will face fewer obstacles in understanding Iran‘s realities,” Rabiei added.
Trump abruptly fired Bolton amid disagreements with his hard-line aide over how to handle foreign policy challenges such as North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan and Russia.
Asked by an American reporter about Bolton’s firing, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said: “We will not be issuing any statement on U.S. internal affairs,” according to a tweet by Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi.
Zarif has in the past said that a so-called “B-team” including Bolton, an ardent Iran hawk, and conservative Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could goad Trump into a conflict with Tehran.
(Reporting by Dubai newsroom, Editing by Grant McCool and Alistair Bell)
