Golnar Motevalli gives the full context for the Rouhani statement that caused Trump to make his unhinged threat earlier this week:

Verbatim excerpts of what Rouhani said on Sunday. The entire statement was almost 2 hrs long. He didn’t say he wants to “launch war”, he said opposite but warned of what war would look like. He said US policy to choke Iran’s economy is a US declaration of war against Iranians: pic.twitter.com/XcirZTWi4d

— Golnar Motevalli (@golnarM) July 24, 2018

As I said Sunday night, it’s clear that the statement from Rouhani wasn’t a threat against the U.S. It was a warning not to take aggressive action against Iran. Furthermore, Rouhani is identifying the current administration policy of trying to strangle Iran’s oil exports as a hostile act, a “declaration of war” by the U.S. against the Iranian people. Trump’s hostility to Iran is such that he treats a verbal rebuke to a destructive policy he initiated as the same as a threat of attack, and he twists Rouhani’s defensive statement into a call for war.

It shouldn’t have to be said at this point, but Trump’s outburst is not the response of someone interested in finding a diplomatic solution to tensions between our countries. It is obviously the response of a belligerent bully who overreacts to the slightest opposition and seeks confrontation for its own sake. Trump’s Iran obsession is extremely dangerous for both the U.S. and Iran, and it is poisoning relations with Iran for many years to come.