Trump’s unclear warning to Iran
UNITED STATES/IRAN: The White House put Iran ‘‘on notice’’ yesterday over what it said were a series of provocations, giving Americans – and the world – a chance to see how President Donald Trump handles a foreign crisis. Top aides would not rule out military action.
In a toughly worded warning, national security adviser Michael Flynn lambasted ‘‘destabilising behaviour’’ by Iran this week, noting the testing of a medium-range ballistic missile and an attack by Iranian-backed militants in Yemen against a Saudi naval vessel.
Reading the statement to journalists at the White House, Flynn cast blame on the Obama administration, which he said had acted in concert with the United Nations, for offering Iran agreements that were ‘‘weak and ineffective.’’
‘‘Instead of being thankful to the United States for these agreements, Iran is now feeling emboldened,’’ Flynn said. ‘‘As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice.’’
Flynn did not further explain what ‘‘on notice’’ means, and US officials, in a conference call with journalists, did not lay out a clear path forward.
It was uncertain whether the Trump administration had communicated its concerns directly to the Iranian government.
‘‘We’re going to take appropriate action,’’ said a senior administration official with knowledge of the situation.
‘‘We are considering a whole range of options. We are in a deliberative process.’’
Experts said the US administration and Iran were testing each other and that frictions might escalate further.
Obama’s secretary of state, John Kerry, had used his personal relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to defuse a crisis when Iran seized a US naval vessel in January 2016 just before President Barack Obama was scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address to Congress.
During his election campaign, Trump had called the nuclear agreement with Iran ‘‘one of the dumbest deals ever’’ and said he might rip it up, though he and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have since backtracked on the pledge.
Co-sponsoring the agreement are the four other permanent members of the UN Security Council and the European Union.
Adding to the sense that the administration was rushing to send messages to potential adversaries in its second week in office, Trump and his daughter Ivanka flew by helicopter to Dover Air Force Base for the arrival of the remains of a US commando who had been killed early Sunday in Yemen during a raid on al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
William ‘‘Ryan’’ Owens’ death occurred during the first counterterrorism operation of the Trump presidency. – TNS