Hunt calls for calm as he warns US and Iran risk stumbling into war

Foreign Secretary raises concerns over ‘accidental’ conflict after Trump ramps up military presence

THE US and Iran are in danger of stumbling into a war “by accident”, Jeremy Hunt warned yesterday as tensions between the two nations escalated.

The Foreign Secretary called for a “period of calm” after America started deploying military forces to the Middle East in response to potential attacks on its interests in the region.

Tehran has threatened to violate the 2015 nuclear agreement and resume enriching high-grade uranium needed for an atomic weapon in 60 days unless the world finds a way to ease the impact of US sanctions that have devastated its economy.

“We are very worried about the risk of a conflict happening by accident with an escalation that is unintended on either side but ends with some kind of conflict,” Mr Hunt told EU powers in Brussels.

“What we need is a period of calm to make sure everyone understands what the other side is thinking, and most of all we need to make sure we don’t end up putting Iran back on the path to renuclearisation.

“Because if Iran becomes a nuclear power, its neighbours are likely to want to become nuclear powers. This is already the most unstable region in the world and this would be a massive step in the wrong direction.”

Mr Hunt spoke hours after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates announced that four of their oil tankers were damaged in a “sabotage attack” near the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway.

The two Arab states, who are fierce opponents of Iran, did not say who was responsible for the attack nor provide any evidence of damage to the ships.

“This criminal act poses a serious threat to the security and safety of maritime traffic, which reflects negatively on regional and international peace and security,” the Saudi foreign ministry said.

The White House began warning last week that it was picking up signals that Iran was preparing to attack US interests in the Middle East.

Although the US has not made its evidence public, American officials said they were concerned that Iran might try to fire ballistic missiles at US vessels in the region and that Shia militias in Iraq could mount attacks.

The US ordered an aircraft carrier and a task force of B-52 bombers reinforced by an assault ship carrying US Marines and a Patriot battery, designed to shoot down incoming missiles.

America already has a wide array of forces in the region, including a vast airbase in Qatar and a large naval facility in neighbouring Bahrain, which houses the US 5th Fleet.

The newly deployed B-52s began their first patrols over the weekend.

The military build-up has been accompanied by a flurry of diplomatic activity. Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, abruptly changed his travel plans on Sunday to fly to Brussels to meet European diplomats for discussions about Iran.

Sceptics of President Donald Trump’s policy towards Iran have warned that US officials may be hoping for an opportunity for military confrontation as American sanctions have so far failed to force Iran to capitulate.

“Some in Washington and the region would welcome, or try to provoke, a confrontation with Tehran in an effort to achieve what sanctions have failed at so far – cutting Iran down to size,” said Ali Vaez, director of the Iran programme at the International Crisis Group.

Charles Hollis, a former UK diplomat who worked in Iran and is now managing director of the Falanx Assynt geopolitical intelligence consultancy, said he thought that scenario was less likely.

“I think you would get a stronger signal from Washington if it were a deliberate policy. I don’t think the US policy establishment as a whole has an agenda for war,” he said.

European diplomats urged Mr Pompeo to avoid any escalation that could lead to war and said they remained united in their support for the 2015 nuclear agreement, which the US withdrew from last year.

“We do not want it to come to a military conflict,” said Heiko Mass, the German foreign minister.

♦ A woman working for the British Council has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran over allegations that she spied for the UK Government, it was announced yesterday.

Aras Amiri, 33, an Iranian citizen, worked for the UK cultural institution in London and was arrested in Iran in March last year while on a private holiday to visit family.

A Foreign Office spokesman said that he was “very concerned” about her detention and was “urgently seeking further information”.

Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe, a 41-yearold charity worker, who lived in London has been held in Iran for more than three years on espionage allegations.