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U.S. guided-missile destroyers McFaul, Gonzalez enter Persian Gulf
by Allen Cone
Washington (UPI) May 17, 2019

Iran urges China, Russia 'concrete action' to save nuclear deal
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday urged China and Russia to take "concrete action" to safeguard the 2015 nuclear deal as he warned of a "dangerous" situation amid rising tensions with the US.

Tensions have ratcheted up with the US deploying an aircraft carrier group and B-52 bombers to the Gulf last week over alleged threats from Iran.

On a visit to Beijing, Zarif said he would talk with Chinese officials about "bilateral ties and the very dangerous issues that are ongoing in our region today", according to a video published on the Iranian foreign ministry website.

Washington has deployed more troops in the Gulf, one of the world's most strategic waterways, in what US officials said was a reaction to photographs showing Iran had loaded missiles onto small traditional boats.

On Wednesday the US State Department ordered the evacuation of most personnel from the US embassy and consulate in Iraq, fearing an attack by Iranian-directed Shiite militias.

Iran on Thursday rejected negotiations with the US, but said it was showing "maximum restraint".

Amid escalating tensions in the region, Zarif has called on the international community to save the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

Iran signed the deal with China, Russia, Germany, Britain, France and the United States. International sanctions were eased in return for curbs on Tehran's nuclear programme.

But last year President Donald Trump walked away from the accord. The US has since then slapped sweeping sanctions on Iran.

"So far the international community has mostly released statements rather than taking action," Zarif said.

"If the international community and other JCPOA member countries and our friends in the JCPOA like China and Russia want to keep this achievement, it is required that they make sure the Iranian people enjoy the benefits of the JCPOA with concrete actions," he added.

- 'Maximum pressure' -

Zarif said last week that only Russia and China had supported Iran and helped it keep the nuclear deal going, and accused other parties to the agreement of letting Tehran down.

China was one of the eight global buyers -- India, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy and Greece -- that was allowed to import Iranian crude oil before the US ended waivers in early May.

Zarif's China trip comes after visits to Turkmenistan, India and Japan in the past week.

Despite Washington's campaign of "maximum pressure" against Iran, the Islamic Republic has vowed to keep selling oil to its main customers, especially China, even if it requires using indirect means.

On May 8, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would stop observing restrictions on stocks of enriched uranium and heavy water agreed under the nuclear deal in retaliation for the US withdrawal and the reimposition of sanctions.

In his announcement, Rouhani threatened to go further if the European members of the deal failed to start delivering on their promises to help Iran circumvent US sanctions within 60 days.

China in response called on all parties to uphold the nuclear deal in what it called a "shared responsibility".

European nations have also called on all partners to the deal to help salvage it while expressing frustration at Iran's demands for help in circumventing US sanctions.

One European diplomat called on China to buy Iranian oil as it is less exposed to the United States.

"They are now very exposed to the dollar but it is also a question of political choice," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The reality for the Chinese is that they are in a global trade war with the Americans, they are in the middle of negotiations and they are not quite so sure if they want to load the boat," the diplomat added.

Two Navy guided-missile destroyers, the USS McFaul and USS Gonzalez, have entered the Persian Gulf as the United States beefs up its military presence in the region amid increased tensions with Iran.

The ships traveled through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday afternoon without challenge from Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy, Pentagon defense officials confirmed to USNI News.

A U.S. defense official told The Wall Street Journal it was the "quietest transit we have seen in a long time,"

U.S. Central Command, which handles U.S. military interests in the Middle East, and Central and South Asia, did not provide details on the transit.

The USS McFaul and USS Gonzales are Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

The ships are joining increased presence of ships and aircraft in the Middle East. Vessels in the region comprise the Fifth Fleet.

The McFaul and Gonzales will be part of the Abraham Carrier Strike Group, which has been operating off the coast of Oman. The USS Kearsarge was off the coast of the United Arab Emirates near the entrance to the Persian Gulf.

And the USS Arlington amphibious transport dock ship and a Patriot surface-to-air missile battery are being moved to the Middle East. Also, four B-52 bombers have been sent to the region.

Earlier this week, the USS Abraham Lincoln Strike Group left the Mediterranean Sea and sailed through the Red Sea to the Gulf of Oman.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told a Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee last week there was "very, very credible" intelligence that Iran was preparing to attack U.S. forces or interests in the region.

CENTCOM commander Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr. agreed.

"Let me be perfectly clear as I reinforce this point: The long-term, enduring, most significant threat to stability in the CENTCOM AOR is Iran and the Iranian regime's malign, hegemonistic ambitions across the theater and, indeed, globally," McKenzie said at a Foundation for Defense of Democracies event in Washington, D.C.

Tehran says the Islamic Republic stands ready to defend itself against any act of aggression but does not consider a war with the United States and its allies as "an option."

"I should say that we are not interested in the escalation of tensions in our region because if something goes wrong, everybody will lose -- including Iran, including the U.S., including all the countries in the region," Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht-e Ravanchi told American outlet National Public Radio. "We are not interested in war. We are not planning for a war. War is not an option for Iran."

But his nation needs "to be prepared for any action against our forces, against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Iran," he said.

"Therefore, we are vigilant. We are doing everything possible to lower the tension in the region. But unfortunately, there are certain people, both in Washington as well as in our region, who are interested to escalate the tension, who are interested to agitate the situation in the region, to provoke."

President Donald Trump, when asked Thursday whether the United States would be involved in a war Iran, told reporters: "I hope not."

On Wednesday, Trump posted on Twitter: "I'm sure that Iran will want to talk soon."

War talk grips Iraq as storied US carrier returns to Gulf
Baghdad (AFP) May 18, 2019 - Iraqis have endured successive wars but spiralling tensions between Washington and Tehran have many convinced that new conflict looms between their key allies and that they will pay the price.

In Washington, some commentators shrug off the bellicose talk towards Tehran saying it will abate when President Donald Trump reins in his hawkish national security adviser John Bolton to avoid a new -- and potentially far larger -- foreign military commitment.

But in Baghdad, the Pentagon's deployment to the Gulf of a carrier group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln accompanied by B-52 bombers has many people persuaded the US threats are very real.

In March 2003, warplanes from the Lincoln flew sortie after sortie over Iraq in the "shock and awe" bombing blitz that signalled the start of the US-led invasion.

The carrier had first deployed to the region in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War which ousted Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait.

In May 2003, it was from the Lincoln's flight deck that president George W. Bush announced the "end of major combat operations" in Iraq in front of a large banner proclaiming: "Mission Accomplished".

The victory declaration was to prove horribly premature, but to Iraqis the nuclear-powered carrier remains a potent symbol of Washington's readiness to use its formidable military might.

The Lincoln "does not move just for the sake of exerting psychological pressure", said civil rights activist Aysar Jarjafji.

"It is deployed for a reason and returns home only when it has accomplished its mission," she said.

- Iraq 'first loser' -

Columnist Hussein Rashid agreed. "There is no question about it, there will be war," he said.

"And Iraq will be the first loser.

"The Abraham Lincoln bombed Iraq. We have a bad memory of that."

Taxi driver Abu Hammudi too believes war is coming.

It is Ramadan and the streets of Baghdad are largely deserted during the day as Muslims await the iftar meal that marks the end of their dawn-to-dusk fast.

"The city is empty, it's like wartime," he said.

"I remember perfectly well how Baghdad was bombed in 1991. It was a horrific night. No one had expected it to happen but it did."

Like many taxi drivers in Baghdad, Hammudi drives an Iranian-manufactured yellow Saipa.

The neighbouring countries, which have centuries-old religious and cultural ties, have massively expanded cross-border trade since the US-led overthrow of Saddam's regime, which fought a devastating 1980-88 war against Iran.

Trump strongly disapproves and has piled huge pressure on Iraq to reduce its economic dependence on it neighbour since he abandoned his predecessor Barack Obama's 2015 nuclear deal with Iran last year.

- 'Interests at stake' -

But in Iraq, the Trump administration faces the hard reality that US military trainers and contractors work in the same ministries and businesses as those of Iran.

"American interests are present in Iraq and militias linked to Iran are also present here," said Jarjafji, sipping an after-iftar drink at a Baghdad cafe.

She was referring to Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force, which is dominated by Iranian-trained Shiite militias.

Those Iranian military trainers, like their US counterparts working with the regular army, played a major role in helping Baghdad defeat the Islamic State group fighters who overran much of the north and west of Iraq in 2014.

But it those same Iranian-trained militias which Washington said on Thursday pose the "imminent" threat to US personnel in Iraq that prompted the latest military deployments.

Washington has blacklisted Iran's Revolutionary Guards -- the parallel army which provides the training -- as a "terrorist" organisation.

Iraqi militia commanders on Thursday dismissed the US allegation as a "provocation" and "psychological warfare".

And Washington's assessment of the immediacy of the threat is not shared by all of its allies in the coalition it forged to fight IS.

"There has been no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria," British coalition spokesman Major General Chris Ghika said on Tuesday.

Iraqi university professor Issa al-Abbadi said he was still hopeful that the realities on the ground would lead moderate voices to prevail.

"There could be a deal. Interests are at stake," he said of the uneasy coexistence between Washington and Tehran in Iraq.

"Victory in war is in avoiding it."


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NUKEWARS
Iran 'will want to talk soon': Trump
Washington (AFP) May 15, 2019
President Donald Trump on Wednesday predicted that Iran will "soon" want to negotiate and denied any discord in the White House over moves that critics say could lead to war in the Middle East. "Different opinions are expressed and I make a decisive and final decision - it is a very simple process," Trump tweeted. "I'm sure that Iran will want to talk soon." Trump blasted media reports about turmoil in the White House over a series of steps taken by the administration to up pressure on Iran, sa ... read more

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