Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, (AP).
"We do not want confrontation. [But] if they want to confront us and impose something on us, it will be the end of them. If they have the power to throw a punch, we have the power to smack [them] in a way that they would not be able to stand up to," Ali Akbar Salehi said.
US authorities said Tuesday that two Iranians -- one holding US citizenship -- were part of a plot "conceived, sponsored and directed from Iran" to kill Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir in a bomb attack. Iranian officials have denied the accusations as "mischievous," insisting that Tehran had no part in the plot, which they said was a ploy to divert attention from US woes at home and in the Middle East. Salehi claimed there had been "many cases" in which the West blamed Iran but which later turned out to be "a mistake."
"Over the past 32 years, there have been many identical accusations. For example in the Lockerbie case, they first accused Iran but it became clear later that that was not the case," Salehi said. “You have seen the hyperbolic way their officials act. They talk as if a global, nuclear explosion has occurred. They have made such a hue and cry about it."
The revelations about the assassination plot have resulted in soaring tensions between Tehran and Washington, who have been foes for more than 30 years since Islamic students took US diplomats hostage in their embassy in Tehran after the revolution.
US Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday Iran would be "held accountable" for its foiled plot.
A former chief of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turki al Faisal, said Wednesday there was overwhelming evidence that Tehran was behind the plot and warned "somebody in Iran" must "pay the price".
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