DUBAI/WASHINGTON－Iran has no proxies but it has friends, tweeted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday, a day after US President Donald Trump said that the country or its proxies planned a sneak attack on US targets in Iraq.

"Don't be misled by usual warmongers, AGAIN, @realDonald-Trump: Iran has FRIENDS: No one can have MILLIONS of proxies. Unlike the US－which surreptitiously lies, cheats & assassinates－Iran only acts in self-defense," tweeted Zarif.

"Iran starts no wars, but teaches lessons to those who do."

Trump on Wednesday warned Iran against a "sneak attack" on US forces and assets in Iraq, threatening a "very heavy price" as a consequence.

"Upon information and belief, Iran or its proxies are planning a sneak attack on US troops and/or assets in Iraq. If this happens, Iran will pay a very heavy price, indeed!" Trump said, without providing detailed information.

Trump sent the tweet immediately after his intelligence briefing on Wednesday, according to his daily public schedule issued by the White House press office.

Iran or Iran-backed forces are plotting attacks against US forces in Iraq, media reported, citing US intelligence.

"We've been seeing something brewing and developing pretty seriously," a US official told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

Escalated campaign

Trump's warning came days after a New York Times story revealing that the Pentagon had ordered military commanders to plan for an escalated military campaign against Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq.

The US military and Iran-backed militia fell into direct conflict last month. On March 11, a rocket attack on Camp Taji killed two US soldiers and one British service member. The US military later retaliated and destroyed facilities of Kataib Hezbollah, or KH, a Shiite militia group.

Camp Taji came under a similar rocket attack on March 14, and three US service members were injured.

The US government last week designated 20 individuals and companies based in Iran and Iraq, accusing them of supporting Iran's elite Quds Force and other Iranian-backed militias.

Commander of US Central Command Kenneth McKenzie previously said that the threat to the US in the Middle East remains very high and that the tensions have not gone down.

The US has enhanced its military assets in the region. Two US aircraft carrier strike groups－the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS Harry S. Truman－are cruising in the area.

Washington alleged the KH was responsible for numerous attacks against the US and the US-led coalition forces in Iraq, including a rocket attack on an Iraqi base near Kirkuk (the K1 base) in late December 2019 that killed a US civilian contractor and injured four US service members.

The rocket attack on the K1 base led to the US airstrike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and the subsequent Iranian retaliation.

Xinhua - Agencies