Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
US Commander Says He Believes Iranian Threat 'Is Very Real'
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
June 7, 2019

Share

BAGHDAD — Iran has chosen to “step back and recalculate” after making preparations for an apparent attack against U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, but it is too early to conclude the threat is gone, the top commander of American forces in the Mideast said.

“I don’t actually believe the threat has diminished. I believe the threat is very real.” — Gen. Frank McKenzie
In an interview with three reporters accompanying him to the Gulf, Gen. Frank McKenzie said he remains concerned by Iran’s potential for aggression and he would not rule out requesting additional U.S. forces to bolster defenses against Iranian missiles or other weapons.
“I don’t actually believe the threat has diminished,” McKenzie said Thursday. “I believe the threat is very real.”
McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, and other military officials are trying to strike a balance between persuading Iran that the U.S. is prepared to retaliate for an Iranian attack on Americans, thus deterring conflict, and pushing so much military muscle into the Gulf that Iran thinks the U.S. plans an attack, in which case it might feel compelled to strike preemptively and thus spark war.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have worsened since President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and several world powers and reinstated sanctions on Tehran. Last month, in response to what American officials characterized as an imminent threat, the U.S. announced it would rush an aircraft carrier and other assets to the region.
The U.S. also blamed Iran for last month’s attacks on oil tankers in a United Arab Emirates port.

Saudi Arabia Also Blames Iran for Sabotage

On Thursday, United Nations ambassadors from the Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Norway told U.N. Security Council members that investigators believe those attacks were led by a foreign state using divers on speed boats who planted mines on the vessels. They did not name Iran.
Earlier, the Saudi ambassador to the U.N., Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, said Saudi Arabia also blames Iran for the sabotage.
Iran has consistently dismissed allegations that it was involved in the recent attacks on the oil tankers or was preparing to attack American troops in the region.
In Baghdad, McKenzie told reporters from The Associated Press and two other media organizations that U.S. redeployments to the Gulf have “caused the Iranians to back up a little bit, but I’m not sure they are strategically backing down.”
The general said the U.S. is showing enough force to “establish deterrence” without “needlessly” provoking its longtime adversary. He said he is confident in the moves he has made.
“We’ve taken steps to show the Iranians that we mean business in our ability to defend ourselves,” he said, referring to the accelerated deployment to the Gulf area of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, four Air Force B-52 bombers and additional batteries of Army Patriot air-defense systems.
Trump, speaking beside French President Emmanuel Macron in Caen, France, said U.S. sanctions are crippling Iran’s economy, possibly yielding a diplomatic opening.
“And if they want to talk, that’s fine,” Trump said. “We’ll talk. But the one thing that they can’t have is they can’t have nuclear weapons.”

Photo of a diver investigating the damage done to the Saudi-owned oil tanker
Undated photograph released Thursday shows a diver investigating the damage done to the Saudi-owned oil tanker Al Marzoqah off the coast of United Arab Emirates. (United Arab Emirates’ Mission to the United Nations via AP)

Gen. McKenzie Stressed the Danger of Conflict

Speaking at the Baghdad headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, McKenzie said he also has repositioned surveillance aircraft to more closely monitor the situation in the Gulf and in Iraq, where the U.S. has 5,200 troops on the ground, and has given Iran a “new look” by introducing more aerial patrols by land- and carrier-based fighters.
“Cumulatively, all of these have caused them to sort of step back and recalculate the course that they apparently were on,” he said.

“I hesitate to say that deterrence has been established. We continue to see possible imminent threats” of a potential Iranian attack.” — Gen. Frank McKenzie
McKenzie did not mention it, but other officials have said that in early May Iran had cruise and perhaps short-range ballistic missiles configured for potential use aboard a small number of dhows sailing off its coast. More recently, those missiles, which were deemed a potential threat, were offloaded, officials have said.
McKenzie stressed that the danger of conflict with a decades-old American adversary has not passed.
“I hesitate to say that deterrence has been established,” he said. “We continue to see possible imminent threats” of a potential Iranian attack.
He said he could not be more specific due to the classification of the intelligence, which he said is as clear and compelling as any he has seen in years.
McKenzie, a veteran of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, took command of Central Command in late March, shortly before the onset of the latest surge in tensions with Iran. He previously directed the staff that supports the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

A Pair of Highly Public Actions Meant to Penalize Iran

The general said he, not the White House, initiated the May 5 moves to accelerate the deployment of the Abraham Lincoln carrier group and to dispatch B-52 bombers.
He said the intelligence on Iranian threats in the first days of May was “compelling” and that the threats were “advanced, imminent and very specific.”
The pattern of intelligence on Iranian preparations for potential attacks emerged as the Trump administration took a pair of highly public actions meant to penalize Iran. The first was the State Department’s designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. The second, perhaps more consequential, move was an April 22 announcement that waivers for American sanctions on buyers of Iranian oil would not be renewed when they expired May 2, meaning Iran lost vital oil export revenues.
U.S. intelligence was then picking up what Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week looked like a pattern of Iranian plotting against U.S. and other targets in the region. Dunford said that on May 3, the U.S. sent a message to Iranian officials “just to make it clear they understood that we would hold them accountable should something take place in the region.”
Two days later, Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, announced the movement of the carrier, prompting an explosion of questions about what new threats Iran had posed to prompt such a highly unusual White House declaration. McKenzie said the carrier request was his, in consultation with Dunford, and that he faced no political pressure to make the request.

DON'T MISS

Newsom Uses a Stunt to Position Himself as a Leader of Anti-Trump Resistance

DON'T MISS

CA Legislature Sets Record for Women in Office and Could See Historic Gender Parity

DON'T MISS

Trump to Target Iran’s Oil Trade in Renewed ‘Maximum Pressure’ Campaign

DON'T MISS

Over 2,500 Central Unified Students Receive Spirit Sweaters at 20th Annual ‘Warm for Winter’

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Gang Members in Shooting Involving 7-Month-Old

DON'T MISS

Fresno Team Makes Low-Budget Horror Flicks Look Like Multi-Million-Dollar Productions

DON'T MISS

4B Movement: After the Election, a Call for Women to Swear Off Men

DON'T MISS

Homeowners’ Effort to Leave Sierra Unified Ends With County Ed Rejection

DON'T MISS

Will Terance Frazier’s Nonprofit Exit Granite Park? ‘Hell No’

DON'T MISS

Fresno Crash Sends Pickup Into Tree, Dark Tint Cited as Cause

UP NEXT

4B Movement: After the Election, a Call for Women to Swear Off Men

UP NEXT

FBI Thwarts Iranian Murder-for-Hire Plan Targeting Donald Trump

UP NEXT

Israeli Soccer Fans Were Attacked in Amsterdam. The Violence Was Condemned as Antisemitic

UP NEXT

Middle East Latest: Israeli Defense Minister Officially Steps Down

UP NEXT

Wave of Racist Texts After Election Prompts FBI Scrutiny

UP NEXT

Americans Seek Fresh Start Abroad as Election Sparks Expat Interest

UP NEXT

Large Airstrikes Hit Beirut Suburbs as Israel Expands Northern Gaza Operations

UP NEXT

Putin Congratulates Trump on His Election Victory in His First Public Comments on the US Vote

UP NEXT

8-Hour Russian Drone Barrage Keeps Kyiv on Edge as War in Ukraine Nears 1,000 Days

UP NEXT

Cuba Left Reeling After Category 3 Hurricane Ravages Island and Knocks Out Power Grid

Over 2,500 Central Unified Students Receive Spirit Sweaters at 20th Annual ‘Warm for Winter’

2 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Gang Members in Shooting Involving 7-Month-Old

2 hours ago

Fresno Team Makes Low-Budget Horror Flicks Look Like Multi-Million-Dollar Productions

3 hours ago

4B Movement: After the Election, a Call for Women to Swear Off Men

4 hours ago

Homeowners’ Effort to Leave Sierra Unified Ends With County Ed Rejection

5 hours ago

Will Terance Frazier’s Nonprofit Exit Granite Park? ‘Hell No’

5 hours ago

Fresno Crash Sends Pickup Into Tree, Dark Tint Cited as Cause

6 hours ago

November Has Scattered Cool Temps, Rain Showers for Fresno

7 hours ago

Beyoncé Makes Grammy History With ‘Cowboy Carter,’ Leading 2025 Nominations

7 hours ago

Macklin Celebrini, NHL’s Youngest Player, Scores on Marc-Andre Fleury, League’s Oldest

7 hours ago

Newsom Uses a Stunt to Position Himself as a Leader of Anti-Trump Resistance

Two days after the nation’s voters gave Donald Trump another term as president, Gov. Gavin Newsom staged a publicity stunt to position...

23 mins ago

23 mins ago

Newsom Uses a Stunt to Position Himself as a Leader of Anti-Trump Resistance

25 mins ago

CA Legislature Sets Record for Women in Office and Could See Historic Gender Parity

37 mins ago

Trump to Target Iran’s Oil Trade in Renewed ‘Maximum Pressure’ Campaign

The Foundation for Central Schools' 20th annual Warm for Winter event provided over 2,500 Central Unified students with spirit sweaters, thanks to community partnerships and generous donors. (Central Foundation)
2 hours ago

Over 2,500 Central Unified Students Receive Spirit Sweaters at 20th Annual ‘Warm for Winter’

2 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Gang Members in Shooting Involving 7-Month-Old

3 hours ago

Fresno Team Makes Low-Budget Horror Flicks Look Like Multi-Million-Dollar Productions

Following the results of Tuesday's election, Jada Mevs, a 25-year-old from Washington, D.C., is urging women to take action by signing up for self-defense classes, deleting dating apps, getting on birth control, and investing in vibrators, as part of a growing response to the election of Donald Trump for a second term and the failure of abortion rights referendums. (Shutterstock)
4 hours ago

4B Movement: After the Election, a Call for Women to Swear Off Men

5 hours ago

Homeowners’ Effort to Leave Sierra Unified Ends With County Ed Rejection

Search

Send this to a friend