US President Donald Trump cautioned Iran Friday over its ballistic missile test earlier in the week.
“Iran is playing with fire - they don't appreciate how "kind" [sic] President Obama was to them. Not me!” Trump tweeted.
Earlier this week, Fox News reported that the Islamic Republic conducted a ballistic missile test on Sunday at a well-known test site outside the city of Semnan, approximately 140 miles east of Tehran.
Following the missile test, Trump's National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said on Wednesday that the United States was putting Iran “on notice,” accusing the Islamic Republic of "destabilizing activity" and of violating the Security Council resolution.
Trump, himself, tweeted on Thursday, "Iran was on its last legs and ready to collapse until the U.S. came along and gave it a life-line in the form of the Iran Deal: $150 billion."
"Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile. Should have been thankful for the terrible deal the U.S. made with them!" he added.
In response, Ali Akbar Velayati, who advises Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on foreign affairs, said that the US "should stop making empty threats to Iran."
"This is not the first time that an inexperienced person has threatened Iran," Velayati said, in an apparent reference to President Donald Trump, though he did not name him.
"Iran is the strongest power in the region and has a lot of political, economic and military power ... America should be careful about making empty threats to Iran," he added.
"Iran will continue to test its capabilities in ballistic missiles and Iran will not ask any country for permission in defending itself," vowed Velayati.
