Pompeo: Forces a deterrent on Iran
Secretary of state said the U.S. is not seeking conflict with Iran despite a military buildup in the Persian Gulf.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is not seeking conflict with Iran, and its military buildup in the Persian Gulf is aimed entirely at deterring Iranian aggression and threats to U.S. interests and international shipping, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday.
On a visit to U.S. Central Command in Florida just before the defense establishment was jolted by the departure of Patrick Shanahan, acting Pentagon chief, Pompeo said he is confident the American military is acting to confront any challenge. It is prepared and ready, he said, to respond to any attack by Iran on U.S. interests or Iranian disruption of international shipping lanes through which much of the world’s oil supplies flow.
A day after the Defense Department announced the deployment of an additional 1,000 troops to the region, Pompeo stressed that President Donald Trump doesn’t want war and only wants to re-establish a deterrent to Iranian threats.
“President Trump does not want war, and we will continue to communicate that message, while doing the things that are necessary to protect American interests in the region,” he told reporters at Central Command headquarters in Tampa.
In an interview with Time magazine published Monday night, Trump characterized alleged attacks by Iran against two tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week as “very minor” and suggested that the United States might not go to war to protect international oil supplies.
In the interview, Trump said he would “certainly” go to war to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
“I would keep the other a question mark,” he said when asked whether he would take military action in response to attacks on tankers.
Last week, Trump administration officials blamed Iran for attacks against Norwegian and Japanese tankers. The Islamic Republic has denied having a role in the attacks.
“So far, it’s been very minor,” he told Time, referring to those and other recent attacks the United States has blamed on Iran.
Trump told Time that the Gulf of Oman is less strategically important for the United States than it used to be.
“Other places get such vast amounts of oil there,” he said. “We get very little. We have made tremendous progress in the last two and a half years in energy … So we’re not in the position that we used to be in the Middle East where … some people would say we were there for the oil.”
Pompeo said he made the trip to Florida to meet with commanders who would be responsible for any operations in the Gulf to ensure that America’s diplomatic and military efforts are coordinated “to make sure that we’re in the position to do the right thing.” The “right thing,” he said “is to continue to work to convince the Islamic Republic of Iran that we are serious and to deter them from further aggression in the region.”
Meanwhile Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that while “we do not wage war with any nation,” Iranians will withstand mounting U.S. pressure and emerge victorious.
His comments came after Iran announced on Monday that it could soon start enriching uranium to just a step away from weaponsgrade levels, a challenge to Trump’s assurances to allies that the U.S. withdrawal from the deal last year made the world a safer place.
Iran said its stockpile of enriched uranium will surpass limits set by the 2015 international nuclear deal in 10 days unless European partners in the agreement do more to help it circumvent U.S. sanctions.
The announcement, made by the spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, was the first time Tehran explicitly said it was on track to violate the agreement.