Iran's Foreign Minister Says although he does not believe there will be a war between Iran and the United States in the near future, certain events might ignite a confrontation, the Independent quoted him as saying.

To give an example of the nature of such events, Zarif mentioned the detention of U.S. marines by Iran's IRGC forces in the Persian Gulf in January 2016.

He mentioned the example recently during an interview with the Independent at the office of Iran's delegation at the United Nations in New York.

Zarif said that the situation was "controlled" back in 2016, thanks to communications between him and his U.S. counterpart at the time John Kerry, adding that no such communication channel exists today.

On the other hand, in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV to be aired on Saturday, Zarif has implicitly threatened that Iran might shut down the Strait of Hormuz.

According to Mehr news agency, Zarif has said in the interview, "If the U.S. decides to make the Strait of Hormuz unsafe for us, Iran will not allow this."

U.S. officials have not yet responded to Zarif's comment as of early Friday morning May 3.