John Bolton doubles down on Trump’s Iran threat to inflict ‘a price few countries have ever paid’

Meanwhile Secretary of State Mike Pompeo likened Iran's leader to the mafia

John Bolton has bolstered Donald Trump’s threat to Iran, saying the president would inflict a price “few countries have ever paid”, if Tehran does anything negative.

In the latest piece of sabre-rattling as the US carries out a sustained propaganda campaign against Iran, Mr Trump’s national security adviser issued a statement saying he had spoken to the president in recent days.

“President Trump told me that if Iran does anything at all to the negative, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid before,” he said.

The words on Monday from Mr Bolton, who has long been a supporter of regime change in Iran, even though the US State Department denies that is official US policy, came after Mr Trump posted a late night tweet – all in capital letters – in which he warned Iran it would “suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before”.

“We are no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence and death,” he added. “Be cautious!”

Mr Trump’s comments had apparently been made in response to remarks from Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani, who warned on Sunday that if the US was to engage in military conflict, it would result in the “mother of all wars”.

Two months after Mr Trump pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal that had been crafted to try and limit Tehran’s nuclear weapons ambitions in exchange for the lifting of many sanctions, Mr Rouhani said America could seek the path of peace with Iran.

But speaking to Iranian diplomats on Sunday, he said: “America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”

Relations between the two countries have become more tense since Mr Trump’s decision in May to withdraw the United States from a 2015 international deal over Iran’s nuclear programme.

While Mr Trump had campaigned for the White House vowing to pull the US from the deal, in the months and weeks before he made the decision, diplomats from Europe and Britain urged him to stay with it.

Since then, the White House has been engaging in a propaganda war against Iran, highlighting issues such as the limits to women’s rights in the country, while remaining silent about the situation in nations such as Saudi Arabia, which is considered an ally.

Reuters reported over the weekend that the Trump administration had launched an offensive of speeches and online communications meant to foment unrest and help pressure Iran to end its nuclear programme and its support of militant groups.

More than half a dozen current and former officials said the campaign, supported by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mr Bolton, the national security adviser is meant to work in concert with Mr Trump’s push to economically throttle Iran by re-imposing tough sanctions.

Mr Pompeo has been especially critical about Iran. Speaking in California on Sunday, launched a scathing attack on Iran’s clerical and military rulers, calling them a kleptocracy similar to the mafia.

“The level of corruption and wealth among regime leaders shows that Iran is run by something that resembles the mafia more than a government,” Mr Pompeo said in speech made to a largely Iranian American audience at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library outside Los Angeles.

Mr Pompeo’s hardline speech was delivered three weeks before the first round of banking sanctions suspended under the Iran nuclear deal is due to be reimposed.

On Monday, Iran responded to Mr Pompeo’s speech by accusing him of interference in state matters, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

“Such policies will unite Iranians who will overcome plots against their country,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi.

At an event at the White House on Monday afternoon, Mr Trump was asked if he had any concerns about provoking Iran with his tweet. He replied: “None at all.”