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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday accused the United States of trying to find a pretext to launch an attack on his country, while Acting Defense Minister Christopher Miller decided to withdraw an aircraft carrier out of the Gulf to reduce the tension.
CNN quoted Pentagon officials as saying that Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller decided to pull the USS Nimitz out of the Gulf to “reduce tension” with Iran.
He added that there are divisions within the Pentagon over the current level of threat from Iran.
The officials also noted that the recent tension is based on intelligence information that Iran and its allied militias in Iraq are planning attacks against US forces in the region, and that the deployment of US military components in the Gulf is due to the information. that Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Iraq.
They stressed that there is no confirmed information indicating that Iran’s attack on US forces may be imminent.
Officials told CNN that some in the Trump administration exaggerate the seriousness of the situation with Iran and believe in the possibility of retaliatory attacks by Iran on the anniversary of Soleimani’s assassination.
For his part, Zarif on Thursday accused the United States of seeking an excuse to launch an attack on his country, and promised that Tehran will defend itself even though it does not seek war.
“President Donald Trump and his entourage are wasting billions to send B-52 fighters and fleets to our region. Information coming from Iraq indicates a plot to create an excuse for war,” he tweeted on Twitter.
He added in the tweet: “Iran does not seek war, but will explicitly and directly defend its people, their security and their vital interests.”
Revenge for Soleimani
The US Central Command announced the dispatch of two strategic bombers, “B52” (B52) to the Middle East, to confirm what it said was a commitment by the US military to the security of the region.
General Frank MacKenzie, commander of the United States Central Command, said Washington is ready and capable of responding to any potential aggression, and warned against reducing the United States’ ability to defend its forces or act decisively in response to any attack. But he emphasized, on the other hand, that Washington does not seek conflict through these movements.
On the Iranian side, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, General Muhammad Bagheri, said that the assassination of General Soleimani did not have a statute of limitations and the perpetrators promised harsh revenge.
Bagheri added that Iran will continue to double down on the mission of withdrawing US forces from the region.
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