In an interview with CBS on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif
said that Iran does not intend to start a war in the region, but that
he is “not confident that we can avoid a war,” with US forces being deployed to the Saudi coast.
Zarif went on to caution that Iran is prepared to defend itself from an
attack, and that any attacker won’t be in for a “limited war.” He added
that US deployments were sending the situation in “the wrong direction.”
Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami also said that Iran is ready for “any type of
scenario,” and cautioned that whichever nation attacks Iran would find
their own country would be the “main battlefield.”
Saudi Arabia has been pushing for moves against Iran, accusing them of
attacking Saudi oil refineries. The US is sending troops to defend the
Saudi sites, but there remains concern that this is going to quickly
spiral out of control into a military confrontation.
Iran FM Not Confident War Can Be Avoided as US Deploys Troops
Iran general warns any nation that attacks will become 'main battlefield' for war
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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