{"id":48354,"date":"2017-10-24T05:32:34","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T05:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=48354"},"modified":"2017-10-24T05:32:34","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T05:32:34","slug":"us-will-not-sit-idly-while-iranian-ayatollahs-plan-more-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/politics\/us-will-not-sit-idly-while-iranian-ayatollahs-plan-more-attacks.html","title":{"rendered":"US will not sit idly while Iranian Ayatollahs plan more attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

US will not sit idly while Iranian Ayatollahs plan more attacks<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

US Vice President Mike Pence on Monday slammed Iran for continuing to \u201cfunnel funds and weapons for the terrorists to shed blood and sew chaos throughout the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking at an event to commemorate the anniversary of the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, Pence said Iran had supported the terrorists and is doing so now while glorifying its actions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIran praises the attackers and remembers them as martyrs,\u201d Pence said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Vice President said his government, under President Donald Trump, is resolved to take decisive action and end \u201cIran\u2019s aggression.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States of America will no longer tolerate Iran\u2019s support of global terrorism,\u201d Pence said, adding Trump\u2019s administration \u201cwill not sit idly by while Ayatollah\u2019s plan more attacks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump is also expected to designate Iran\u2019s most powerful security force, the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), as a terrorist organization, as part of a broader US strategy on Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pence\u2019s remarks come shortly after other high-ranked American officials used harsh language while speaking about Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, the 26th Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, on Friday compared Iran to the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIran is very good at pitting communities against each other. It is a hegemonic design and a threat they share with [IS] and al-Qaeda,\u201d the White House National Security Advisor said at the 2017 Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) National Security Summit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking about the Kirkuk take over by Iraqi forces and Iranian-trained Shia militias, McMaster said that \u201cIran has to stop using illegal armed groups in Iraq at the expense of regional security and stability.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s desire to contain Iran has not translated to support for Kurds. In fact, McMaster emphasized Washington\u2019s interest in a unified Iraq, provided the country could free itself from Iranian influence.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we would like to see in Iraq is a stable Iraq that is not aligned with Iran,\u201d he said without explaining why the US seemed to betray its Kurdish ally.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mike Pompeo, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), similarly lashed at Iran, saying at the FDD that he saw Iran at the heart of the Kirkuk problem but also many other problems in the Middle East.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[President Trump] has come to view the threat from Iran is at the center of so much of the turmoil that bogs us down in lots of places in the Middle East,\u201d Pompeo said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see the impact that they are having today in northern Iraq. The threat that they pose to US forces. We had an incident last week,\u201d the CIA director said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Answering interviewer Juan C. Zarate\u2019s point that reports indicated Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani was in Kirkuk this week, Pompeo interjected, \u201cI\u2019m aware of that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Pompeo mentioned Iran\u2019s growing influence on other groups such as the Lebanese Hezbollah, Houthis in Yemen, and Shia militias in Iraq known as the People Mobilization Forces (PMF) or Hash al-Shaabi.<\/span><\/p>\n

He also criticized the Iran deal and added that it has not, in reality, curtailed \u201cIranian adventurism, the terror threat, [and] malignant behavior.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For its part, Iran has responded to threats with their own threats, warning Tehran would tear the nuclear agreement apart in \u201ca matter of hours\u201d if new sanctions were issued.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking to the parliament in August, Hassan Rouhani directly threatened the US that Iran could restart its nuclear program \u201cin an hour and a day\u201d if the former continued its \u201cthreats and sanctions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThose who try to return to the language of threats and sanctions are prisoners of their past delusions,\u201d Rouhani said in his televised address.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2015, Iran signed an agreement with the five-plus world powers to curb its nuclear program in return for lifting most international sanctions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the US\u2019 emphasis on containing Iran, their goal of \u201censuring that the Abadi government in Iraq is successful,\u201d has offered leeway to Iran to assist in a swift takeover of Kirkuk which has displaced some 170,000 Kurds.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, analysts argue that the US has, unwittingly, assisted Iran with its regional ambitions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The US officials criticize Iran for dividing communities, including Kurds, and establishing influence in Iraq and Syria. But, Washington\u2019s inaction in Kirkuk allowed Iran to achieve those very goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe conflict in Kirkuk offers further evidence of Iran\u2019s steady rise,\u201d said Emma Sky, author of \u201cThe Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq,\u201d who served in Iraq from 2003 to 2004 as the governorate coordinator of Kirkuk.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIran is showing everyone in the region that it is the indispensable ally\u2014not the United States,\u201d Sky wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

She added that Iran mediated a deal between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Iraqi government and guided the Shia militias supporting the Iraqis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[Iran] is securing its corridors across Iraq and Syria, mediating between the different groups on the ground, while the United States occupies a shrinking space.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIran has every interest in maintaining these militias\u2014making it increasingly difficult for any Iraqi Prime Minister to demobilize them. And Turkey, which used to be a US ally, is moving closer to Iran and Russia,\u201d Sky said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.kurdistan24.net\/en\/news\/9664ee61-6960-4be0-b141-3295501998bd<\/span><\/p>\n

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