The Trump Administration has spent the past month ringing alarm bells over Iran, yet government officials have shown very little evidence.
The Trump Administration has spent the past month ringing alarm bells over what it has called “troubling, escalatory and dangerous” behavior by Iran. Yet government officials have shown very little evidence to the American public about that supposed threat.
Story continuesAdm. Michael Gilday, the U.S. military’s Joint Staff director, told reporters at the Pentagon Friday that Tehran was responsible for a string of recent attacks in the Middle East. The incidents, he said, included an assault on four tankers in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, armed drone attacks against Saudi oil facilities and a rocket attack in Iraq’s Green Zone, where the U.S. embassy is located.
When pressed about the proof that resulted in sending additional manpower and equipment to the region, Gilday replied that the intelligence was too sensitive to disclose. “I can’t reveal the sources of that reporting except to say, with very high confidence, we tie the Iranians to those,” he said. Nevertheless, the Pentagon now plans to send an additional 900 troops to the Middle East in response to Iran’s “campaign” of violence intended to damage the United State and its allies, Gilday said. Additionally, the U.S. will send a squadron of 12 jet fighters and several spy planes and extend the deployment of 600 soldiers operating Patriot missile batteries. The troops and hardware will join the B-52 bomber task force, the U.S.S.
Kathryn Wheelbarger, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, told Pentagon reporters that the additional forces will be stationed at undisclosed locations in the Middle East, but stressed it wouldn’t be Iraq or Syria. “We are seeking to avoid hostilities,” she said. “We are not seeking war with Iran.”
Meanwhile, the Administration continues to ratchet the economic pressure on Tehran after abandoning the 2015 nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The State Department says nearly 1,000 Iranian individuals, businesses and banks have been sanctioned. The Administration last month designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an arm of the nation’s military, as a terrorist organization, which restricts members’ banking transactions and ability to travel.
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