In a statement, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif argued that "Secretary Pompeo and other U.S. officials... are well-advised to address the calamities of disaster-struck Americans who have been suffering from natural disasters for months, instead of trying to take abnormal and politically-driven advantage of the suffering of human beings afflicted by natural disasters". He went on to predict that Iran would "not only prevail over the impact of the recent natural disaster... but also overcome the illegal sanctions and vanquish the economic terrorism of the U.S., all while registering the malign U.S. behaviour in their collective historical memory".