Iran does not expect a war with the United States despite an escalation in tensions following a US-led military deployment in the Persian Gulf, the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says.
Hossein Salami held a closed-door session with parliamentarians over the security situation in the region after the US to sent a warship, USS Arlington, an aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln, and a fighter-bomber to the area.
Chairman of the national security and foreign policy committee, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, told the state-run IRNA news agency Salami had pointed out that based on studying strategic moves of the US, Iranian analysts did not expect a war against the US.
“Americans are merely looking for a psychological war, and trying to tie this issue to their sanctions and economic pressures,” Falahatpisheh said on Sunday.
The MP also said the Iranian government was not going to contact President Donald Trump’s administration to engage in talks.
Falahatpisheh added the US officials would have to propose “much more serious” negotiations with Iran in the future.
Regarding the US military deployment in the region, well-known Iranian MP Alaeddin Boroujerd told the Tasnim news agency American actions were not new, as these warships “have always been in the region illegally”.
Read the article in The Canberra Times (AAP).