‘SHORT WAR’ WITH IRAN AN ILLUSION, SAYS TEHRAN

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No NATO commitment to thwart Iran

BRUSSELS, June 27, (Agencies): Acting US Defense Secretary Mark Esper says he came away with no firm commitments from NATO allies to participate in a global effort to secure international waterways against Iran. He says the US will provide more details to allies next month on how the Iranian threat has escalated and how they can work together to deter further aggression.

The US has blamed Iran for recent attacks on oil tankers near the Persian Gulf. A senior US official says allies expressed interest in Esper’s request during their meetings in Brussels. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private discussions. NATO allies have expressed reluctance to get involved in any military effort to help secure the region. Europe wants more emphasis on minimizing the chances of war.

Esper appealed to NATO allies on Thursday to publicly denounce Iran’s hostile actions and consider participating in a still-evolving waterways around the Strait of Hormuz. Esper, at NATO headquarters in his international debut as Pentagon chief, also called for help moving tensions with Iran from a military path – which included Iran’s downing of a US drone last week and an aborted US military response – to a diplomatic one. “I discussed the need to internationalize this issue by encouraging NATO allies and regional partners to voice their opposition to Iran’s bad behavior and to help us deter further provocative acts by improving maritime security,” Esper told reporters after the closed-door discussions. US President Donald Trump’s last-minute decision to call off planned strikes on Iran last week was the culmination of weeks of building military tension. Washington also accused Iran of being behind attacks on ships in the Gulf, which Tehran denies.

Washington’s European allies, critical of Trump’s decision to withdraw from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, have reacted with alarm in recent weeks, repeatedly warning both sides that a small mistake could lead to war

. The European allies told the gathering they wanted to see the United States and Iran de-escalate tensions, adding they would support all diplomatic efforts to do so, diplomats told Reuters.

On Tuesday Trump threatened the “obliteration” of parts of Iran if it struck US interests. President Hassan Rouhani, who normally presents Tehran’s mild-mannered face, called White House policy “mentally retarded.” Esper said Washington was not looking for a war and instead sought European support for diplomacy. “We do not seek armed conflict with Iran but we are ready to defend US forces and interests in the region. No one should mistake restraint for weakness,” Esper told reporters.

Iran’s foreign minister said on Twitter on Thursday that Trump’s view that a conflict with Iran would be a “short war” was an illusion and that his threat of “obliteration” amounted to threatening “genocide”. “‘Obliteration’-genocidewar crime,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter “‘Short war’ with Iran is an illusion.” Trump said on Wednesday he was “not talking boots on the ground” should he take military action against Iran, adding that “I’m just saying if something would happen, it wouldn’t last very long.” He threatened on Tuesday to obliterate parts of Iran if it attacked “anything American”. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday he will try to convince Trump to suspend some sanctions on Iran to allow for negotiations to deescalate the crisis in the region. “I want to convince Trump that it is in his interest to re-open a negotiation process (and) go back on certain sanctions to give negotiations a chance,” Macron told reporters on the train from Tokyo to Kyoto.

The French leader will meet his US counterpart on the sidelines of the G20 summit this weekend. Macron said the idea would be to begin a discussion and set up the parameters of talks ranging from Iran’s nuclear activities to its wider role in the region. “We’d give ourselves a few months,” Macron said. The Iran-backed Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah believes a US war on Iran is unlikely and Trump would not be able to control the results of a conflict that could engulf the region. Sheikh Naim Qassem, in an interview with Lebanon’s al- Joumhouria newspaper, said such a war would be fought on many fronts, not just one, meaning losses would be countless. “At the regional level, we see as unlikely an American war against Iran for many reasons, the most important of them being firstly that Iran is a strong state with important defensive capabilities,” Qassem said. Trump “does not benefit from a war that he can start but whose results he cannot control and which might begin with Iran but may be accompanied by the region being set on fire”, he said.

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