US General Claims Iran Threat ‘Remains Very High’

US will keep two aircraft carriers in Middle East amid tensions

Earlier this week, US officials were justifying redeployments out of the Middle East, arguing Iran was no longer the threat they once were because of coronavirus. But a night of US attacks against Iraqi targets has US officials again convinced Iran is a threat.

Centcom commander Gen. Frank McKenzie praised the many US attacks in Iraq as successful, while saying the threat posed by Iran “remains very high,” suggesting the attacks were sending them a signal.

McKenzie also says that the US decision to keep two aircraft carrier groups in the Middle East is related to US hostility toward Iran, saying it is meant to deter Iranian retaliation. This retaliation would be for US attacks on Iraqi Shi’ite militias, which the US presents as Iranian proxies.

Just two and a half months into 2020, this is the second major flareup in US-Iran tensions leading to fear of a war. As with the previous one, it involves the US carrying out attacks heedlessly in Iraq, without a thought for what comes next.

Author: Jason Ditz

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.