Iran Opens New Missile Production Line After Trump’s Bombastic Twitter Threats Against Rouhani

WASHINGTON – On Monday, Iranian officials overwhelmingly rejected recent threats from U.S. President Donald Trump, who had warned Iran via Twitter that the country would “suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before” were it to “threaten” the United States.
With top Iranian officials condemning Trump’s words as “psychological warfare,” Iran doubled down on its refusal to bow to U.S. pressure by unveiling a new mass production line of medium-range air-to-air missiles just hours after Trump’s tweet.
The new missile, dubbed the Fakour, will be manufactured in Iran for the first time and is set to be deployed against aggressive aircraft targeting Iranian territory. Notably, the Fakour missile’s capacity for mass production was achieved despite U.S. sanctions and other measures aimed at crippling Iran’s missile production capabilities.
As the missile production line was announced, Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami stated:

Today, we live in an environment where we are surrounded by shameless enemies and mischievous people like the current rulers of the U.S., and some of its allies, who do not understand anything other than the language of force.”

Hatami also stated that Iran will give a proportionate response to any threat it receives and asserted that the new missiles’ mass production would help enhance Iran’s deterrence capability and its defensive power.
Trump’s tweet, written late Sunday night, certainly employed “the language of force.” Writing in  all capital letters and addressing Iranian President Hassan Rouhani directly, Trump told Iran’s leader to “be cautious” as the U.S. would no longer “stand for your demented words of violence & death.”

Trump’s bombastic threats were a response to Rouhani’s statements over the weekend, in which he had cautioned the U.S. to avoid pursuing policies hostile towards Iran. Rouhani, addressing a group of diplomats on Sunday in the Iranian capital of Tehran, had stated:

America must understand well that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.
You declare war and then you speak of wanting to support the Iranian people. You are not in a position to incite the Iranian nation against Iran’s security and interests.”

However, Rouhani’s statements – hardly “threats” to the United States – were themselves a response to U.S. government statements made over the weekend. Indeed, the same day that Rouhani had warned the U.S. against following hostile policy aimed at toppling Iran’s government, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had earlier announced in a speech that the U.S. had launched a “maximum pressure campaign” targeting Iran that would involve applying both “diplomatic and economic pressure,” with a particular focus on curbing Iran’s oil exports. Pompeo also likened Iran’s government to a “mafia” and promised unspecified support for Iranians who were unhappy with the government.
Prior to Trump’s recent Twitter threats and Pompeo’s most recent speech, the U.S.’ recent policy towards Iran has been openly hostile, particularly after the administration’s decision – allegedly at Israel’s behest – to terminate the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In addition, since the year began, the Trump administration has undergone key changes that have seen well-known proponents of war with Iran placed into top positions, such as John Bolton – now National Security Advisor – and Mike Pompeo – now Secretary of State. Both of their predecessors – H.R. McMaster and Rex Tillerson, respectively – had supported the JCPOA.
Bolton, as well as other Trump administration officials, openly support exiled Iranian terror group Mujahedeen Khalq (MEK) and have openly called for the toppling of Iran’s government. In a speech given at a MEK event last year, Bolton stated “the only solution is to change the regime itself. […] And that’s why, before 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran!” Beyond that, Bolton has repeatedly called forpreemptively bombing Iran in order to stop a nuclear weapons program that has never existed.
Pompeo, for his part, oversaw last year’s opening of a new CIA mission center designed to “turn up the heat” on Iran while serving as the agency’s director. Prior to serving as CIA director during the first year of the Trump administration, Pompeo – like Bolton – had called for the preemptive bombing of Iran and had also promoted the possibility of sending U.S. military forces into Iran.