Pretenses for US troop deployment dubious: Analyst

The pretenses under which the US is sending troops to the Middle East are dubious, according to an American political analyst. 

Media reports said that the US was sending 1,000 more troops to Middle East for ‘defensive purposes’ amid tensions with Iran.

PressTV-US sending 1,000 more troops to Mideast

The United States has approved deployment of some 1,000 more soldiers to the Middle East amid escalating tensions with Iran.

Speaking to Press TV from Virginia on Tuesday, director of Attackthesystem.com Keith Preston, questioned the claims behind the move and said the troops deployment was under false pretenses.

“Supposedly, this is a response to the attacks on the oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman,“ he said, while pointing out that it had not been established yet who carried out the attack.

“It has not been established as to who was actually responsible for those attacks,” he said.

Preston said the administration in the United States had very recklessly tried to blame Iran for the attacks.

However, Preston reminded, any involvement of Iran had “not been demonstrated by any kind of evidence.” He noted, "In fact, all of the evidence points away from the idea that Iran would be responsible for the two attacks.”

He said the truth of the matter was that sending additional American troops to the Middle East was an anti-Iran effort aimed at exerting pressure on the Islamic Republic.

US President Donald Trump’s increasingly aggressive anti-Iran stance has been the result of false reports to him by White House National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who were pushing the United States into a military confrontation with Iran, according to the American analyst.

Preston said Bolton, who is notorious for his decades-long animosity towards the Islamic Republic, was pigheadedly pursuing "regime change" in Iran.

The analyst noted that regime change in Iran was part of the wider neoconservatives’ agenda that had been implemented in the region for some years now. “This is the latest chapter in the unfolding of that drama.”

"The important issue at present is to recognize that the pretext for sending the troops is a false one," Preston said, concluding the interview by saying, "It is based on claims that have not been demonstrated.”

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk