Iran threaten Gulf states, US troops in the region
Any
conflict in the Gulf region may spread uncontrollably and threaten the lives of
US troops, a senior Iranian military commander said on Sunday after U.S.
President Donald Trump said he would impose further sanctions on the Islamic
Republic.
While flagging more
sanctions, Trump had also said on Saturday he wanted to make a deal to bolster
Iran's economy in an apparent move to defuse tensions following the shooting
down of an unmanned U.S. drone this week by the Islamic Republic.
Trump has said he aborted a military strike to retaliate for Iran's
downing of the drone because it could have killed 150 people.
"Neither Iran nor any other hostile actor should mistake U.S.
prudence and discretion for weakness. No one has granted them a hunting license
in the Middle East," U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said on
Sunday during a visit to Israel.
Iran has said it would respond firmly to any threat against it and warned
on Sunday of the risks of a military confrontation.
"If a conflict breaks out in the region, no country would be able to
manage its scope and timing," Major General Gholamali Rashid said,
according to the semi-official news agency Fars.
"The American government must act responsibly to protect the lives of
American troops by avoiding misconduct in the region."
Tensions in the region began to worsen significantly when Trump pulled out
of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six powers and reimposed sanctions on
the country. The sanctions had been lifted under the pact in return for Tehran
curbing its nuclear program.
Iran is feeling the effects of the sanctions, Bolton told reporters,
adding Iran would never be allowed nuclear weapons.
"Iran's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons, its threats to exceed
the limits set in the failed Iran nuclear deal in the coming days ... are not
signs of a nation seeking peace," Bolton said.
"Sanctions
are biting, and more added last night," he said. "Iran can never have
nuclear weapons - not against the U.S.A. and not against the world."
U.S. ally Israel, which has itself long threatened strikes against Iran's
disputed nuclear program, signaled backing for Trump's stance.
"With all due respect to the fact that 150 Iranians were spared a
cruel fate, the real major thing is the American policy (which) absolutely
serves the interests of the world and of Israel in preventing Iran from getting
nuclear weaponry," Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told
Israel Radio.
Nuclear Deadline Running Out
Tensions in the Gulf can only be addressed politically and priority should
be de-escalation and dialogue, a senior United Arab Emirates official said on
Sunday.
"Crisis long in the making requires collective attention; primarily
to de-escalate and to find political solutions through dialogue and
negotiations," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said in
a Twitter post.
Iran may further scale back compliance with its nuclear deal in two weeks
unless European countries shield it from U.S. sanctions through a trade
mechanism, the head of Tehran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations said.
"If Europeans don't take measures within the 60-day deadline
(announced by Iran in May), we will take new steps," the semi-official
news agency ISNA quoted Kamal Kharazi, a former foreign minister, as saying.
"It would be a positive steps if they put resources in (the planned
European trade mechanism) Instex and ...make trade possible," Kharazi
said. "We have to see in the next two week whether they only make promises
or they take practical steps."
Kharazi was speaking after meeting Britain’s Middle East minister Andrew
Murrison, who visited Tehran for "frank and constructive" talks and
to call for urgent de-escalation in the region, according to the Foreign Office.
Meanwhile, Iranian lawmakers chanted "Death to America" during a
parliament session on Sunday after a speaker accused the United States of being
the "real world terrorist".
"America is the real terrorist in the world by spreading chaos in
countries, giving advanced weapons to terrorist groups, causing insecurity, and
still it says 'Come, let's negotiate'," the parliament's deputy speaker,
Masoud Pezeshkian, said at the start of a session broadcast live on state
radio.
"Death to America," chanted many lawmakers.
The chants, often repeated since the 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled
the U.S.-backed Shah, came weeks after Trump said in a U.S. television
interview: "They (Iranians) haven't screamed 'death to America'
lately."