Iran expresses concerns about US increasing military presence in Mideast
Iranian officials on Saturday expressed their concerns about the escalating tensions with the United States and sought to grab the international attention to what they called the “danger” in prospect.
According to state TV report, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Saturday that “increased US military presence in our region is extremely dangerous and it threatens international peace and security.”
The remarks by Zarif followed US President Donald Trump’s announcement on Friday that he had decided to send 1,500 more troops to the restive Middle East region.
Such a move by the United States should be addressed by the international community, Zarif said.
Earlier this month on May 5, the US National Security Adviser, John Bolton, announced deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group and a bomber task force to the region adjacent to Iran’s southern waters.
Bolton said that the US forces were deployed for protective measures against any “attack on United States’ interests or on those of our allies.”
The Iranian foreign minister on Saturday dismissed the US claims, saying that the US officials have made such allegations, based on “fake intelligence,” to justify their “hostile” policies towards the Islamic republic and to raise tensions in the region.
In the meantime, Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht-Ravanchi said that Iran does not want any war in the region amid the rising tensions with the United States, official IRNA news agency on Saturday.
The Iranian official stressed that in the first place “Iran does not desire war in the region, neither with the United States nor with any other country.”
However, “we will stand firmly against any act of aggression against our country,” he pointed out.
Takht-Ravanchi also urged the United States to respect the Iranians and to refrain from any threats as a condition for dialogue.
“Genuine talks cannot be productive if they are coupled with intimidation, coercion and sanctions,” said Takht-Ravanchi.
In the meantime, “a dialogue can only succeed if both sides accept the principle of mutual respect and then act on equal footing,” he noted.
Instead, the US policy vis-a-vis Iran is driven by an “obsessional antagonism,” he added.
The Iranian official regretted that “the recent dispatching of a US naval armada to the Gulf is a response to the same fake intelligence.”
Iran has been under unprecedented sanction pressure by the United States following US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from Iran’s nuclear deal in May last year.
Washington seeks to seal a new nuclear deal with Iran, to further curb Iran’s nuclear program, stop Iran’s ballistic missile development and brake Iran’s push for influence in the region.
“Trump’s sudden withdrawal from the JCPOA nuclear deal last year with no good reason – and to the disapproval of almost the entire international community – stirs concerns that any future deal might face the same fate, with no guarantee to the contrary,” concluded Takht-Ravanchi.
