MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened Iran with “great and overwhelming force” and potential “obliteration” in some areas if it attacks “anything American” after Iranian leaders said the White House “is afflicted by mental retardation” and they are permanently closing doors to diplomacy in the wake of U.S. sanctions.

Trump called statements made by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign minister “ignorant and insulting,” and then — after brandishing U.S. military power — issued a stark threat: “Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration.”

Iran leadership doesn’t understand the words “nice” or “compassion,” they never have. Sadly, the thing they do understand is Strength and Power, and the USA is by far the most powerful Military Force in the world, with 1.5 Trillion Dollars invested over the last two years alone..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2019

The president said Iranian leadership doesn’t “understand the words “nice” or “compassion.” “Sadly, the thing they do understand is Strength and Power, and the USA is by far the most powerful Military Force in the world,” he added.

Last week, Trump pulled back on a military strike against Iran for shooting down an American surveillance drone, saying he would impose more sanctions, which he announced on Monday, including ones targeting Iran’s supreme leader and other top officials in the the Iranian regime.

The president’s tweets came hours after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said at a medical conference that the United States’ sanctions against Iran are a “failure,” and said “the White House is afflicted by mental retardation and does not know what to do.”