Reuters DUBAI (Reuters) – An Iranian lawmaker offered a $3 million reward to anyone who killed U.S. President Donald Trump and said Iran could avoid threats if it had nuclear arms, ISNA news agency reported on Tuesday amid Tehranâs latest standoff with Washington.
U.S. disarmament ambassador Robert Wood dismissed the reward as âridiculousâ, telling reporters in Geneva it showed the âterrorist underpinningsâ of Iranâs establishment.
Tensions have escalated since Trump in 2018 pulled the United States out of a multilateral 2015 agreement meant to contain Iranâs nuclear program, saying it was flawed, then reimposed heavy U.S. sanctions on Tehran. The standoff erupted into tit-for-tat military strikes earlier this month.
âOn behalf of the people of Kerman province, we will pay a $3 million reward in cash to whoever kills Trump,â lawmaker Ahmad Hamzeh told the 290-seat parliament, ISNA reported.
He did not say if the reward had any official backing from Iranâs clerical rulers.
The city of Kerman, in the province south of the capital, is the hometown of Qassem Soleimani, a prominent Iranian general whose killing in a drone strike ordered by Trump on Jan. 3 in Baghdad prompted Iran to fire missiles at U.S. targets in Iraq.
âIf we had nuclear weapons today, we would be protected from threats … We should put the production of long-range missiles capable of carrying unconventional warheads on our agenda. This is our natural right,â Hamzeh was quoted as saying by ISNA.
The United States and it Western allies have long accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons. Tehran insists it has never sought nuclear arms and never will, saying its nuclear work is for research and to master the process to generate electricity.