Iran would be prepared to respond to a possible confrontation with the US after the Trump administration dispatched troops to the region and arranged the sale of billions of dollars in weapons to its Arab allies, top Iranian officials said.
President Donald Trump said he was sending 1500 more troops to the Middle East amid rising tensions with Iran.
On the same day, his administration invoked a rarely used provision of US arms control laws to declare an emergency to rush through weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and sidestep the US congress, which may have objected to the deals.
The moves have raised concerns within Iran that the US could be preparing for a regional war, even as some powerful officials played down the prospect of an imminent conflict.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Washington’s decision to send 1500 troops to the Middle East was “dangerous” and “must be countered”.
Mr Zarif told the official IRNA news agency that the US was “trying to justify its hostile policies”.
“America’s increased presence in our region is very dangerous and threatens international peace and security and must be countered,” the news agency quoted him as saying.
Read the report in The Australian (from The Wall Street Journal).