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Beijing has issued a scathing rebuke of Mike Pompeo's claim that China is involved in covert activities as part of its desire to obtain greater power, noting that the allegation might be true - if he were referring to Washington.It doesn't seem to matter how many times Huawei assures the Deep State neocons it has no intention of conducting intelligence activities or how many other cyber experts confirm those assertions. China bad is the message for the masses.
"All these accusations against China are lies, not based on facts," Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. "But if we replace the subject of the lie from China to America, maybe those lies become facts?"
Washington has repeatedly claimed that Huawei poses an existential security threat to its allies. However, these allegations have been largely dismissed by Europe. The UK has already decided to allow Huawei limited participation in its 5G network, and countries such as Germany, Portugal and Italy have been vocal critics of US pressure to cut all ties with the Chinese firm.
"It's unfortunate that the United States, based on misinformation, based on ignorance and arrogance, combined on a course that has brought the region very close to the brink. [...] We were very close to a war", Zarif said, cited by NBC News.
[Regarding the retaliatory strike on the American base in Iraq:] "We wanted to show to the United States that they could not bully Iran. Actions against Iran will have repercussions, but the intention was not to kill anybody [...] The intention was to send a message, a very clear message to the United States, that if they kill Iranians, we will hit back", Zarif said, cited by NBC News.
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Zarif detailed that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had written an "extremely inappropriate letter to Iran" at the height of the crisis in January, adding that this message contained "threats", although the Tehran diplomat carefully declined to cite the content.
"Let him say what he put in that letter", Zarif offered, cited by NBC News.
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"The United States hit at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and these are the consequences and we can't control the consequences, nor can the United States. I mean, people are responsible for the consequences of their actions and I think people who initiated this, need to walk back", Zarif said, cited by NBC News.
Comment: All the hue and cry about Sander's position on Israel is just theatrics. In the end he is a soft supporter, whom Israel doesn't really need to worry about.