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‘We fundamentally do not seek a war with Iran,’ says US state secy

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives for a press conference in Russia's Sochi on May 14, 2019. (AFP photo)

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo says the country is not after military confrontation with Iran, a statement running counter to Washington’s military buildup in the Persian Gulf.

"We fundamentally do not seek a war with Iran," Pompeo said in Sochi during his visit to Russia on Tuesday.

The former CIA chief further repeated Washington’s threats against Tehran, claiming that, "We have also made clear to the Iranians that if American interests are attacked, we will most certainly respond in an appropriate fashion... We are looking for Iran to behave like a normal country."

This is while the Iranian envoy to the United Nations has dismissed the US military buildup near Iran as mere “psychological warfare.”

“We are not in the business of trying to create a conflict in our neighborhood because nobody is going to have benefit from such a conflict in our region, except for a few, as I explained earlier, some people in Washington and some countries in our neighborhood,” Majid Takht-e Ravanchi told CNN on Tuesday.

He was pointing at war mongering by the Israeli regime and its Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia in the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appreciated his alliance with some Arab countries against what he claimed to be “Iranian aggression.”

"There is a new efflorescence, a new renaissance of relations between us and many of our Arab neighbors, and many non-Arab Muslim countries. Many more than you can count. And it's true that we are united in our desire to stop Iranian aggression, and I believe that Israel and all the countries of the region and all the countries who seek peace in the world should stand together with the United States against Iranian aggression," Netanyahu claimed at a ceremony marking the one-year anniversary of the illegal US embassy move to Jerusalem al-Quds.

Washington has been trying to reduce Iran’s oil exports to “zero,” and sent an aircraft carrier strike group, a bomber squad, an amphibious assault ship, and a Patriot missile battery to the Middle East to try to stack up pressure on Tehran.

The US has also been trying to reduce Iran’s oil exports to “zero,” and sent an aircraft carrier strike group, a bomber squad, an amphibious assault ship, and a Patriot missile battery to the Middle East to try to stack up pressure on Tehran.

Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) aerospace division General Amir Ali Hajizadeh asserted Sunday that the US forces stationed in the Persian Gulf “will be hit on the head” if they make a mistaken move.


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