WASHINGTON – The United States is not seeking conflict with Iran, thegeneral overseeing America s military involvement in the Middle East saidThursday, even as some Trump administration officials have stepped uprhetoric against Tehran.
“I don t think we re seeking to go to war with Iran, and I don t thinkthat s what we re focused on,” General Joseph Votel, who heads the USCentral Command, told Pentagon reporters.
His comments came the day after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the USwas terminating a 1955 friendship treaty with Iran reached under itspro-Western shah.
And President Donald Trump s national security advisor John Bolton, alongtime mega-hawk on Iran, last week said the US would maintain a presencein Syria even after the Islamic State group has been defeated.
“We re not going to leave (Syria) as long as Iranian troops are outsideIranian borders,” Bolton said. “That includes Iranian proxies andmilitias,” he added, going on to warn of Tehran of “hell to pay” if itthreatens the US or its allies. “Let my message today be clear: we arewatching, and we will come after you.”
James Jeffrey, the US special representative on Syria, later said acontinued US presence in the war-torn country did not necessarily meanAmerican boots on the ground.
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Votel has not been given any “direct military tasks” in terms of thepressure campaign being waged by the Trump administration, but he said thePentagon remains “prepared to respond rapidly massively if the situationrequires.”
The Trump administration, which is close to Iran s rivals Saudi Arabia andIsrael, has withdrawn from a deal to curb Iran s nuclear program and vowedto challenge Tehran s influence in Syria as well as Yemen and Iraq.
Trump has been clear the Iranian regime needs to “cease its destabilizingbehavior and policy that spreads violence and human misery throughout theMiddle East,” Votel said.
“The principle way that we are approaching that right now is throughdiplomatic and economic pressure. And I support that, I don t see thatnecessarily as being on the road to war with Iran.” – APP/AFP
