"Never, ever threaten the United States again" Trump warns Iran

REUTERS: U.S. President Donald 

Trump

 on Sunday (July 22) warned Iranian President Hassan Rouhani not to threaten the United States again, after Rouhani cautioned 

Trump

 about pursuing hostile policies against Tehran. "Never, ever threaten the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before," 

Trump

 said in a Twitter post. Rouhani on Sunday said "war with Iran is the mother of all wars", but did not rule out peace between the two countries. "We are no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence & death," 

Trump

 tweeted. "Be cautious!" he added.

Trump

's remarks came on the heels of his secretary of state Mike Pompeo launching a rhetorical assault on Iran's leaders, comparing them to a "mafia" and promising unspecified backing for Iranians unhappy with their government. Pompeo, in a California speech to a largely Iranian-American audience, dismissed Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who negotiated a nuclear deal with the United States and five other countries, as "merely polished front men for the ayatollahs' international con artistry." U.S. President Donald 

Trump

 withdrew in May from the 2015 nuclear accord designed to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Tehran has said its nuclear work is just for electricity generation and other peaceful projects. Iran "is run by something that resembles the mafia more than a government," Pompeo said, citing what he called Iranian leaders' vast wealth and corruption. Pompeo's speech was the latest step in a communications offensive launched by the 

Trump

 administration that is meant to foment unrest in Iran and help pressure its government to end its nuclear program and support of militant groups, U.S. officials familiar with the matter said. The offensive is meant to work in concert with severe economic sanctions that Washington plans to reimpose in the coming months, including on Tehran's oil exports, its principal revenue generator. The United States will work with countries that import Iranian oil "to get imports as close to zero as possible" by Nov. 4, Pompeo said.