Iran FM:

B-Team takes US military as personal mercenary

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says even former US secretary of state has admitted that an international group of warmongers, or the B-Team, wants to take the US military as its own personal mercenary.

News ID: 447204

Date: 22 September 2019 - 16:43

RNA - In a post on his official Twitter account on Saturday, Zarif added that as confirmed by former US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the B-Team uses US President Donald Trump as an "easy mark" to push him into waging a war.

Even President Trump’s former Secretary of State now confirms what we have long pointed out:#B_Team took @realDonaldTrump for an easy mark who could be lied to and pushed to war—and the US military as their personal mercenary.
Some still do, despite his firing of one member. pic.twitter.com/fTVDhS77XZ

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) September 21, 2019

"Even President Trump’s former Secretary of State now confirms what we have long pointed out: #B_Team took @realDonaldTrump for an easy mark who could be lied to and pushed to war—and the US military as their personal mercenary," he said.

The top Iranian diplomat added that some still do the job, despite Trump's firing of one member of the group, referring to the US president's ousting of National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Speaking on Tuesday during a panel interview with Harvard professors, Tillerson revealed that Trump was “played” by Machiavellian Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on several occasions.

“They did that with the president on a couple of occasions, to persuade him that ‘We’re the good guys, they’re the bad guys. We later exposed it to the president so he understood, ‘You’ve been played,” Tillerson, who served in the Trump administration as the Secretary of State from February 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018, said.

The “B-team” is a term thrown into popular usage by Zarif. It refers to a group of politicians who share an inclination toward potential war with Iran, and the letter “b” in their names. They include Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and, formerly, Bolton. The term has gained wider usage to refer to such Iran hawks as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as well as hard-line US Senators like Lindsey Graham.

The word is also a tacit reference to the group’s level of competence, always lagging behind the proverbial “A-team.”

In another tweet earlier on Saturday, Zarif pointed to the latest sanctions imposed by the United States on the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and said Washington's new designation showed its desperation and the failure of its "max pressure."

US' new designation of Central Bank displays:
- desperation & the failure of its "max pressure"
- the preventing of CBI from financing import of food & medicine for our people
- #B_Team's fear of US return to negotiation
- #B_Team's efforts to drag @realdonaldtrump into war

He added that the new restrictions displayed “the preventing of the CBI from financing import of food & medicine” for the Iranian people.

The sanctions indicate the "B-Team's fear" of the possibility of the US return to the negotiating table and its efforts to drag Trump into war.

Addressing reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said the new sanctions on Iran represent the "highest sanctions ever imposed on a foreign country."

Ever since quitting the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran – known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - in May 2018, Trump has been running what he refers to as a "maximum pressure" campaign, which seeks to pressure Iran into negotiating a new deal that addresses its ballistic missile program and regional influence.

Speaking to reporters upon his arrival in New York on Friday, the Iranian foreign minister said the recent US sanctions on the CBI clearly showed Washington’s “desperate approach” toward the Islamic Republic.

“The Americans have imposed any sanctions they could on the Islamic Republic. What they are doing now is sanctioning an entity which has been sanctioned before under a different pretext,” Zarif said.

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