US dismisses Iranian lawmaker offering reward for killing Trump: ‘Ridiculous’

A member of the Iranian parliament offered a reward of $3 million to anyone who kills President Trump, ISNA, an Iranian news agency, reported Tuesday. 

U.S. disarmament ambassador Robert Wood reportedly told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the reward was “ridiculous” and a demonstration of the “terrorist underpinnings” of Iran’s government.

The Iranian lawmaker who made the comment, Ahmad Hamzeh, represents Kerman, Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s hometown province. The U.S. killed Soleimani earlier this month via airstrike, stirring tensions in the region.

Hamzeh said that the bounty on Trump is one of the country’s few options after the Iran Nuclear Deal left it unable to produce nuclear weapons. 

“If we had nuclear weapons today, we would be protected from threats. … We should put the production of long-range missiles capable of carrying unconventional warheads on our agenda,” Hamzeh told the parliament, according to ISNA. “This is our natural right.”

The U.S. in 2018 withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal, an agreement between Iran, three major European countries and the U.S. After dropping from the deal, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Iran, causing economic decline in the country. Since then, Iran has been less apt to follow the guidelines of the original agreement. 

Last week Europe formally accused Iran of breaching the deal, taking the first step toward reimposing United Nations sanctions and isolating Iran. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday warned that European soldiers stationed in Iran could face a threat should the United Nations decide to impose sanctions.

Iran also said that it would pull out from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if Europe made good on its threat to impose sanctions. NPT has been the basis of global nuclear arms control since it was signed in 1968 during the Cold War. The treaty bans its 190 signatories from acquiring nuclear weapons in return for allowing them to pursue peaceful nuclear power programs.

Wood reportedly said the threat to quit the treaty would send a “very, very negative message.”