Iran is a country that has been slammed with U.S. sanctions for almost four decades now. Despite both countries declaring one another as the enemy, close combat is yet to take place between them.
Based on the grounds that Iran is planning attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East, Donald Trump’s administration on May 5 sent aircraft carrier attack groups, along with a bombardment task force consisting of B-52 bombers. The days following May 5 were the most intense between Iran and the U.S. to date. By the way, the intelligence which got the U.S. to deploy forces is “Israel”-based.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was in Finland on the days that followed, canceled his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and went to Iraq. Pompeo could not find the support he hoped from Iraqi officials. The Iraqis indicated the U.S. is exaggerating the intelligence concerning Iran, and stated that they did not witness any unfamiliar development in Iranian behavior.
The claim that Pentagon is preparing to send 120,000 troops to the Gulf landed like a bomb on the world’s agenda. Meanwhile, the U.S. decision to send an additional military fleet to the region, including a battleship, escalated tensions. Secretary of State Pompeo then visited Brussels and held meetings with his French, German and British counterparts to ensure support to their maximum pressure policy against Iran. However, Pompeo failed to achieve the result he had hoped for. Just as these three countries, that are signatories of the “Iran Nuclear Deal,” do not approve of U.S. President Trump’s withdrawal from this deal, they are also displeased with the U.S.’s Iran policy. As for the Trump administration, it is pushing European leaders to both withdraw from the nuclear deal and fully support the U.S. against Iran.
Visiting Moscow following Brussels, Pompeo met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is impossible for Russia, which itself is facing U.S. sanctions, to overtly support the U.S. regarding Iran. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif travelled to China where Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi slammed the U.S.’s one-sided sanction on Iran and declared support for Iran.
According to information in U.S. media, in addition to NATO intelligence units, the U.K. wing of the anti-Daesh coalition in Iraq and Syria also find the claims of an “increasing threat” from Iran “baseless.” In summary, this idea, which Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are trying to sell, found no buyers. Nobody believes the likelihood of Iran seeking a reason go to war with the U.S. On the contrary, it is Trump’s neocons that are seeking an excuse to launch a war against Iran. As a matter of fact, even Trump himself is not after war. Trump believes that maximum pressure will bring Iran into line.
Trump had accused previous U.S. presidents of pushing America into stupid wars that cost the country trillions of dollars. “Going to war with Iran” is not in the interests of Trump, who wants to be re-elected as president in 2020. Trump accused news outlets that reported the plan to send 120,000 troops to the Gulf as publishing “FAKE NEWS”. Of course, Trump’s denial does not show that there is no plan. Only in January the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times had reported that Bolton requested a military operation plan from Pentagon aimed at Iran. Bolton’s “zealotry concerning Iran” did not escape attention.
Trump, who promised to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Syria, has been sitting in the presidential chair since 2017, but is yet to bring home a single soldier. While this is the state, Trump would not want a war with Iran. Whoever convinced Trump to work with Bolton and the other hawks, they are the forces that want the war with Iran. Israel, which is among the likely suspects of this scenario, would of course very much love for the U.S. to fight for it. A “La Fontaine Tale” relates what happens to a cat that takes the chestnuts in the fire with its paws upon the monkey poking him. The monkey is the one that eats the chestnuts, but the cat is the one that gets beaten. In this “Iran” scenario, Bolton is playing the role of this “cat’s paw.”
