U.S. President Donald Trump fired a social media broadside at the Iranian Government Sunday afternoon, vowing that war between Washington and Tehran would result in “the official end of Iran” before warning, “[n]ever threaten the United States again!”

Trump tweeted hours after a rocket landed less than a mile from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, the first such attack since September. An Iraqi military spokesman told reporters the rocket appeared to have been fired from east Baghdad, which is home to several Iran-backed Shiite militias.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have risen in recent weeks after the Trump administration ordered warships and bombers to the Middle East earlier this month to counter threatened attacks against U.S. interests by Iran or Iranian-backed forces.

The U.S. also ordered nonessential staff out of its diplomatic posts in Iraq days after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Baghdad and told Iraqi intelligence that the United States had been picking up intelligence that Iran is threatening American interests in the Middle East.

Trump appeared to have softened his tone in recent days, saying he expects Iran to seek negotiations with his administration. Asked last Thursday if the U.S. might be on a path to war with Iran, the president answered, “I hope not.”

The U.S. Navy said Sunday it had conducted exercises in the Arabian Sea with the aircraft carrier strike group ordered to the region to counter the unspecified threat from Iran. The navy said the exercises and training were conducted Friday and Saturday with the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group in coordination with the U.S. Marine Corps.

On the Iranian side, the head of the country’s elite Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, was quoted Sunday as saying Iran is not looking for war. But he said the U.S. is going to fail “because they are frustrated and hopeless” and is looking for a way out of the current escalation.  (SD-Agencies)