Iran claims US lacks stomach for war as tensions mount in Gulf

‘If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again’

THE US is “afraid” of war with the US, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed, as tensions between Tehran and Washington intensified last night.

Major General Hossein Salami told the Iranian state news agency, IRNA, that the US did not have the stomach for war.

“The difference between us and them is that they are afraid of war and don’t have the will for it,” he said.

He made his remarks against a backdrop of increased volatility in the region, with the US sending an aircraft carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf to counter an “unspecified threat” from Iran.

His comments were dismissed by Donald Trump, who wrote on Twitter: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!”

The US Federal Aviation Administration has urged commercial aircraft to exercise caution when flying over the Persian Gulf, warning they run the risk of being “misidentified”.

A similar misunderstanding in 1988 led to an American warship bringing down an Iran Air flight, killing all 290 people on board. Iraq, meanwhile, has suggested a decision by Exxonmobil, the US energy giant, to evacuate staff from a southern oilfield after Washington ordered personnel to quit its Baghdad embassy was politically motivated

Saudi Arabia responded to the escalating crisis by calling for a Gulf summit, adding that while the country did not want war it would defend itself if hostilities erupted.

In Washington, Mr Trump has moved from hawk to dove, telling Patrick Shanahan, his acting defence secretary, that while he wants Tehran to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions, he wants to avoid an armed conflict. It has put him at odds with John Bolton, the national security adviser who has made little secret of his desire for regime change in Tehran.

Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, has also sought to calm the situation by asking European allies to intervene with Iran, which is facing tough US sanctions.

Washington’s stance has put it at odds with European powers, notably after it withdrew from the nuclear deal negotiated under the Barack Obama administration. Tulsi Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran and Democratic presidential candidate, rounded on Mr Trump and Mr Pompeo accusing them of leading the country into a war with Iran.

“He says he doesn’t want it, but the actions of him and his administration, people like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, tell us a very different story,” she said on ABC.

“They are setting the stage for a war with Iran that would prove to be far more costly, far more devastating ... than anything ... in the Iraq war.”