<p class="title">Iran's foreign minister Saturday discounted the prospect of a new war in the region because Tehran opposed it and no party was under the "illusion" the Islamic republic could be confronted.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been on the rise as the United States has deployed a carrier group and B-52 bombers over what it termed Iranian "threats".</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We are certain... there will not be a war since neither we want war nor does anyone have the illusion they can confront Iran in the region," Mohammad Javad Zarif told state-run news agency IRNA at the end of a visit to China.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"US President Donald Trump does not want war but the people around him are pushing him towards war under the pretext of making America stronger against Iran," Zarif added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Iran-US relations hit a new low last year as US Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed unilateral sanctions that had been lifted in exchange for Tehran scaling back its nuclear programme.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday that the country is currently locked in a "full-scale war of intelligence" with the US.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This is a combination of psychological warfare, cyber operations, military mobility, public diplomacy and instilling fear," semi-official news agency ISNA quoted Hossein Salami as saying.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"America's majesty is on the decline and it is about to reach its end, and at the same time, we must watch out for probable dangers in such circumstances," he said.</p>
<p class="title">Iran's foreign minister Saturday discounted the prospect of a new war in the region because Tehran opposed it and no party was under the "illusion" the Islamic republic could be confronted.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been on the rise as the United States has deployed a carrier group and B-52 bombers over what it termed Iranian "threats".</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We are certain... there will not be a war since neither we want war nor does anyone have the illusion they can confront Iran in the region," Mohammad Javad Zarif told state-run news agency IRNA at the end of a visit to China.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"US President Donald Trump does not want war but the people around him are pushing him towards war under the pretext of making America stronger against Iran," Zarif added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Iran-US relations hit a new low last year as US Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed unilateral sanctions that had been lifted in exchange for Tehran scaling back its nuclear programme.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday that the country is currently locked in a "full-scale war of intelligence" with the US.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This is a combination of psychological warfare, cyber operations, military mobility, public diplomacy and instilling fear," semi-official news agency ISNA quoted Hossein Salami as saying.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"America's majesty is on the decline and it is about to reach its end, and at the same time, we must watch out for probable dangers in such circumstances," he said.</p>