Velayati: Trump Will Not Risk War With Iran

Foreign policy advisor to the Leader of Islamic Revolution, Ali Akbar Velayati, said US President Donald Trump will not risk getting entangled with an "iron dam" like Iran, saying the US would suffer an "unprecedented defeat" if he ever wanted to try his luck in a war on Iran. A calculating newcomer like Trump will never be involved in a confrontation with Iran, whose government and nation are an "iron dam", Velayati, who also heads the Strategic Research Center of Iran's Expediency Council, said in an interview with Tasnim News Agency published on Monday.

"Even if Trump intended to try his luck, an unprecedented defeat in the history of the US would occur," he said. He said while the US is not stronger now than the time when it invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran is more powerful than those countries.

"We are by no means worried about Trump's comments," he stressed, saying the US president makes careful calculations despite his public rhetoric.

Another main factor preventing Trump from doing whatever he likes, Velayati explained, is the US domestic situation, such as opposition from the US judicial system, media and influential politicians.

The former foreign minister said Iran is not the only country with which Trump has problems, adding that even westerners and Washington's friends have told Iran they do not really know what Trump wants. Velayati reiterated that Iran pursues detente and is not looking for a war against any country, but at the same time it would not waste a moment to defend its national interests.

His comments came after President Hassan Rouhani reminded "rookie politicians" in the Middle East and the US that the "language of respect and dignity" is the only way of treating the Iranian nation.

"We are experiencing conditions in which some novices have come to power in the region, in the world and in the US ... They should all know that they have to talk to the Iranian nation with the language of respect and dignity," Rouhani said in an address to a rally in Tehran on Friday to mark the 38th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.