The United States is deploying some of its military to the Middle East in response to troubling “indications and warnings” from Tehran and to demonstrate that the United States will retaliate with “unrelenting force” to any attack. The deployment has been said to be ordered “as a deterrence to what has been seen as potential preparations by Iranian forces and its proxies that may indicate possible attacks on US forces in the region.” Nevertheless, the national security adviser John Bolton also commented that the US was not expecting an imminent Iranian attack.
According to Mr. Bolton, the decision was made to send a “clear and unmistakable message” of US resolve to Iran. Although he did not pinpoint specific activities on the Iranian side, Tehran has recently warned that it will block the Strait of Hormuz if it was banned from using the strategic strait. “The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or regular Iranian forces,”Mr. Bolton said in a statement. In a hawkish policy towards Iran, Washington also said that it would stop giving exceptions to countries to buy Iranian oil trying to bring Iran’s oil exports down to zero.
In the meantime, the EU said it was concerned regarding the US decision on waivers on oil trade. “We deeply regret the re-imposition of sanctions by the United States following their withdrawal” from the Iran nuclear deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the EU’s foreign policy chief and foreign ministers of France, German and the UK said over the weekend. “The lifting of nuclear-related sanctions is an essential part of the JCPOA — it aims at having a positive impact not only on trade and economic relations with Iran, but most importantly on the lives of the Iranian people,” their statement read.
