The U.S. Continues Maximum Pressure Campaign To Counter Iran Regime’s Threats
The United States has declared on a number of occasions that it will not accept or yield to Iran regime’s belligerence and recently announced a long-overdue designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) in the midst of a “maximum pressure campaign” to confront the mullahs nuclear threats and terrorist activities abroad.
The campaign is designed to compel the regime to behave normally and join the international community by stopping its malign activities at international level and inside Iran including ending their interference in other countries’ affairs and inflicting war in the Middle East, as well as responding to the international calls for respecting Iranian people’s civil and human rights.
Last year, President Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw the “deeply controversial” 2015 Iran nuclear deal, also known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, that “rewarded the world’s leading state sponsor of terror with $150 billion, but received absolutely nothing in return.”
Calling JCPOA the “worst deal in the U.S. history,” Trump said the “number-one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran” that did not contribute to “regional and international peace and security.”
The U.S. Secretary of State then announced 12 conditions for the regime to follow and said the U.S. would reimpose sanctions that were implemented prior to the JCPOA if Iran does not abide by its international obligations.
After Tehran exhibited defiant attitude as part of the mullahs desperate strategy to compel international community to yield to the regime’s bluffs and empty threats in order to stand down and let the mullahs continue their malevolent behavior and tyrannical rule against the Iranian people’s will, the U.S. administration reimposed tough economic sanctions and announced last month that the waivers allowing certain countries to continue importing Iranian oil would not be renewed.
At the beginning of the week, John Bolton, the National Security Adviser to President Trump, announced on Sunday that the U.S. was sending an aircraft carrier and a bomber task-force to the Middle East after it received a “credible threat” from Iran regime.
In a message on Twitter, defense secretary Patrick Shanahan called on the Iranian regime to “cease all provocation” and said the United States will hold the regime accountable “for any attack on U.S. forces or our interests”.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Central Command Chief, Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, said the US would counter any dangerous actions by Iran by deploying the necessary resources including the decision to deploy the aircraft carrier and task-force to the Middle East to send a very clear message to Iran regime and its allies that any attack it instigates “will be met with unrelenting force”.
He said: “If a fight is to be had, we will be fully prepared to respond and defend our interests. And it won’t be a fair fight.”
McKenzie reiterated that the United States is not seeking war with Iran, rather it is taking a “deliberate approach” to make it clear that the U.S. is ready to respond to any further threats by the Iranian regime.
The U.S. has always prided itself on its ability to defend itself and it is quite right to say that it would not be a “fair fight” between the two countries. Iran is in a very delicate position and is a much weaker military force than the United States.
At the same time, Brian Hook, the United States Special Representative for Iran said on Wednesday that the U.S. is not seeking war with Iran, but stands ready to respond to any attack on America by the mullahs.
The U.S. seems set on continuing the maximum pressure campaign on the Iranian regime. The move to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization (FTO) was a bold move by the the Trump administration because it is the first time that a U.S. government has ever designated another country’s military as FTO.
McKenzie further emphasized the position of Trump administration on Iran and highlighted that the Iranian regime is providing extensive support to a number of designated terrorist groups such as Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Lebanese Hezbollah. He also reiterated that the Iranian regime is contributing to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen by supporting the Houthi rebels where the regime is “trying to create a Hezbollah-like state”.
In another move, the U.S. issued more sanctions regarding the Iran’s iron, steel, aluminium, and copper sectors just hours after the Iranian president Rouhani declared that the regime would resume uranium enrichment activities.
Far beyond Iranian regime’s bluffs and empty threats in the Middle East, one should look into the regime’s main pillar for repression inside the country, the Terrorist IRGC, which has a long track record of terrorist activity on foreign soil and support for well-known terrorist proxies like Hezbollah, as well as the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) that has been directly linked to the planning of bombings and assassinations as recently as last year, often targeting Western nationals or Western territory through the logistical backing of the regime’s embassies and under their diplomatic cover.