Threats between US, Iran rise

Washington and Teheran ramped up their bellicose talk on Sunday in the aftermath of the US killing of a high-ranking Iranian military commander.

Iran said it had placed an $80 million bounty on US President Donald Trump and threatened to attack the White House.

"We can attack the White House itself, we can respond to them on the American soil," Iranian Member of Parliament Abolfazl Abutorabi said Sunday. "We have the power, and God willing we will respond in an appropriate time," Abutorabi said, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency.

Abutorabi said "this is a declaration of war, which means if you hesitate you lose".

On Sunday, Iran distanced itself from a deal it had made in 2015 to limits its nuclear ambitions, saying it would continue to cooperate with the United Nations nuclear watchdog but would respect no limits to its uranium enrichment work.

Iran said "there will be no limitations in enrichment capacity, level of enrichment and research and development and ... it will be based on Iran's technical needs," state TV said, quoting a government statement.

Iran said the rollback of its nuclear commitments could be reversed if Washington lifted sanctions on Teheran. Trump withdrew the US from the deal in 2018.

Also on Sunday, the Iraqi parliament took steps to expel all foreign troops from the country.

Iran's threats came after Trump on Saturday said he had identified 52 Iranian targets if it retaliated for the drone-fired missile attack Friday that killed Major General Qassem Soleimani and other military leaders at the Baghdad airport.

On Saturday, an Iranian official said at least 35 US targets, including warships and Tel Aviv, Israel, a major city of the US ally's, have been identified for retaliatory strikes.

Iranian General Gholamali Abuhamzeh said vital American targets in the region were ships in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

"The Strait of Hormuz is a vital point for the West and a large number of American destroyers and warships cross there … some 35 US targets in the region as well as Tel Aviv are within our reach," he said.

Iranian Information and Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi on Sunday called Trump "a terrorist in a suit. He will learn history very soon that NOBODY can defeat 'the Great Iranian Nation & Culture.'"