US mission is to avoid, deter war with Iran, says Pompeo

This news has been read 13431 times!

WASHINGTON, Sept 22, (Agencies): The United States aims to avoid war with Iran and the additional troops ordered to be deployed in the Gulf region are for “deterrence and defense,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday. Speaking to Fox News Sunday, Pompeo added that he was confident US President Donald Trump would take action if such deterrence measures fail and that this was well understood by the Iranian leadership. “Our mission set is to avoid war,” Pompeo said.

“You saw what Secretary Esper announced on Friday, we are putting additional forces in the region for the purpose of deterrence and defense,” he said. Pompeo said Washington was taking measures to deter Tehran, but he added that Trump would take necessary action if Tehran failed to change its behavior. “If that deterrence should continue to fail, I am also confident that President Trump would continue to take the actions that are necessary,” he said.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have further escalated after an attack last weekend on Saudi oil facilities that initially disrupted half of the oil production from the Kingdom, the world’s largest oil exporter, and was blamed on Tehran by the United States and Saudi Arabia. US has slapped more sanctions on Iran, penalising the Iranian Central Bank while the Pentagon said it was sending US troops to bolster Saudi Arabia’s air and missile defenses after the largest-ever attack on the Kingdom’s oil facilities.

Iran denied involvement in the attack. Yemen’s Houthi movement, an Iran-aligned group fighting a Saudi-led alliance in Yemen’s civil war, has claimed responsibility.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, speaking to CNN, said the attack on Saudi oil facilities was an attack on the world economic system. He said the United States expects that any country attached to the US dollar system will abide by the sanctions on Iran.

Trump pulled the United States out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran last year and ramped up sanctions to strangle its oil exports, a mainstay of the Iranian economy. The move dismantled part of former US president Barack Obama’s legacy and upset US allies who were party to the agreement, which was designed to restrict Tehran’s pathway to a nuclear bomb in exchange for sanctions relief.

Iran’s president called Sunday on Western powers to leave the security of the Gulf to regional nations led by Tehran, criticizing a new US-led coalition patrolling the region’s waterways as nationwide parades showcased the Islamic Republic’s military arsenal. Rouhani separately promised to unveil a regional peace plan at this week’s upcoming high-level meetings at the United Nations, which comes amid heightened Mideast tensions following a series of attacks, including a missileand- drone assault on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry.

This news has been read 13431 times!