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Iranian Lawmaker Says His Country Doesn't Want War With US
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
May 22, 2019

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TEHRAN, Iran โ€” Iran will โ€œunder no circumstancesโ€ enter a war either directly or indirectly with the United States, a prominent reformist Iranian lawmaker said Wednesday, as both Washington and Tehran try to ease heightened tensions in the region.

The reported comments by Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh come after the White House earlier this month sent an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the region over a still-unexplained threat it perceived from Iran.

Since that development, Iran has announced it will back away from the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, an accord that President Donald Trump pulled America out of a year ago. The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, alleged that four oil tankers were sabotaged off its coast, and Iranian-allied rebels in Yemen have launched drone attacks into Saudi Arabia.

Tehran Has Worked to Leverage Relationships

Falahatpishehโ€™s comments, reported by the semi-official ILNA news agency, carry additional heft as he serves as the chairman of the Iranian parliamentโ€™s national security and foreign policy commission.

โ€œUnder no circumstance will we enter a war. No group can announce that it has entered a proxy war from Iranโ€™s side.โ€ โ€” Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh

โ€œUnder no circumstance will we enter a war,โ€ Falahatpisheh said, according to ILNA. โ€œNo group can announce that it has entered a proxy war from Iranโ€™s side.โ€

Since Iranโ€™s 1979 Islamic Revolution, Tehran has worked to leverage relationships with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and others to counter what it perceives as the threat from Americaโ€™s vast military presence across the Mideast.

Analysts believe that if attacked, Iran could rely on those militant groups to target American troops, Israel and other U.S. allies in the region.

 

Iran Quadrupled Its Production Capacity of Low-Enriched Uranium

On Monday, Iran announced it had quadrupled its production capacity of low-enriched uranium. Iranian officials made a point to stress that the uranium would be enriched only to the 3.67% limit set under the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, making it usable for a power plant but far below whatโ€™s needed for an atomic weapon.

But by increasing production, Iran soon will exceed the stockpile limitations set by the nuclear accord. Tehran has set a July 7 deadline for Europe to set new terms for the deal, or it will enrich closer to weapons-grade levels in a Mideast already on edge.

The U.S. Air Force announced Wednesday that a B-52 bomber deployed to Americaโ€™s vast Al-Udeid Air Base over the tensions took part in a formation flight with Qatari fighter jets. That come as Qatar has grown closer to Iran after facing a nearly two-year boycott by four Arab nations also allied with the U.S.

โ€œThis flight was conducted to continue building military-to-military relationshipsโ€ with Qatar, the Air Force said.

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