Region

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he does not want a war with Iran but warned that if fighting does break out, it "would not last very long", even as Iran's president tried to tamp down soaring tensions. 

Trump also hinted that any conflict would be waged with air strikes, saying there would be no US boots on the ground.

His remarks came after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tried to rein in the crisis between the two archfoes, saying that Iran "never seeks war" with the United States.

Washington has ratcheted up crippling economic sanctions on Tehran after the Islamic republic's forces shot down an unmanned US drone in the Gulf region, following a series of attacks on tankers that Washington blamed on Iran.

Trump says he called off an air strike against Iranian targets at the last minute last week, having decided the expected death toll of 100 would have been a disproportionate response. 

In an interview on Fox Business Network, Trump was asked if America is going to go to war with Iran.

"Well, I hope we don't but we're in a very strong position if something should happen. We're in a very strong position," Trump said, a day after he warned that any further military action by Iran would result in an "overwhelming" US response and could result in "obliteration".

"It wouldn't last very long, I can tell you that. And I'm not talking boots on the ground".

Talking later with reporters outside the White House, Trump said Iran's leaders would be "selfish and ... stupid" to reject cutting a new deal with his administration to replace the 2015 nuclear accord made under his predecessor Barack Obama, which Trump himself walked out of.

That step is widely seen as the genesis of steadily declining relations between the two countries over the past year.

"They have a country that's in economic distress. It's an economic disaster right now, they can solve it quickly or in 10 years from now," he said. "I have all the time in the world. In the meantime, they have very strong sanctions."

In the current crisis with Iran, Trump’s tone has vacillated between tough and conciliatory — talking up US military might and saying all options are on the table, or offering Tehran talks on renegotiating a multi-party nuclear deal.

Iran has responded by saying it will “resolutely” abandon more commitments under the nuclear deal with world powers on July 7.

But Iran’s own stance also has been mixed: while the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed his country would remain unbowed by US “insults”, Rouhani adopted a more conciliatory approach.

“Iran has no interest to increase tension in the region and it never seeks war with any country, including [the] US,” the president said, quoted by state news agency IRNA.

The high-stakes showdown in the Gulf between the longtime rivals has triggered a flurry of diplomatic activity as world leaders scramble to prevent a war that would massively disrupt oil flows and shake the global economy.

Rouhani spoke earlier by phone with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and told him Iran has “always been committed to regional peace and stability and will make efforts in this respect”.

Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Majid Takht Ravanchi, told the Security Council on Wednesday that Tehran alone cannot save the nuclear deal.

“Iran alone cannot, shall not and will not take all of the burdens anymore to preserve the JCPOA,” he said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as the deal is formally known. 

Iran has said that as of June 27, it will have more than the 300 kilos of enriched uranium that it was allowed to have under the deal, the result of 12 years of tough diplomatic negotiations.

Iraqi President Barham Saleh added his voice to the warnings against a fresh regional conflict that would have serious repercussions for his own war-torn country.

“We have had four decades of challenge and turmoil. We do not want to be embroiled in another war,” he said. “We cannot afford our country to be dragged into conflict.”

BRUSSELS — President Donald Trump's pick for Pentagon chief plunged straight into business as he made his NATO debut on Wednesday, confronting Turkey over its purchase of Russian air defence missiles.

Mark Esper, nominated as defence secretary last Friday, reiterated Washington's warning that buying the Russian S-400 missile system would mean it would be booted out of the US F-35 jet fighter programme.

Making his first appearance at a meeting of NATO defence ministers, Esper had what a Pentagon spokesman described as a "frank and transparent" meeting with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar.

The US and NATO are alarmed that Turkey may acquire the missiles, which are designed to shoot down planes like the F-35, America's new generation multirole stealth fighter that Turkey also wants to buy.

But Turkey has so far rebuffed all efforts to persuade it to drop the deal, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted that the delivery process had already begun.

"Do not forget that Turkey is a NATO country. America is a NATO country. I am not aware if NATO countries place sanctions on one another," Erdogan told reporters at an Ankara airport, before leaving for Japan where he will attend ta G-20 summit.

 ‘Done deal’ 

"The two leaders had a frank and transparent discussion where Secretary Esper reiterated that Turkey's purchase of the Russian S-400 air and missile defence system is incompatible with the F-35 programme and that Turkey will not be permitted to have both systems," Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said.

Erdogan has said he will use his good relations with Trump to defuse tensions when they meet on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka this week.

He said Turkey's relations with Washington was based upon "strategic partnership" and added he did "not get such an impression from Mr Trump" that sanctions would be placed unless Ankara dropped the Russia deal.

The Turkish leader also insisted that the agreement with Moscow was a "done deal" and that the system was "in the process of delivery".

But the US has set a July 31 deadline for Ankara to drop the purchase or face sanctions and expulsion from the F-35 programme.

This would mean an end to Turkey's current plans to buy 100 F-35s and the loss of lucrative contracts to build parts of the jet.

Esper, who is yet to be confirmed in post by the Senate, is the third man to lead the Pentagon in six months after Jim Mattis and Patrick Shanahan.

The departure of defence secretary Mattis — who quit in December admitting he had had differences with Trump — concerned some European allies who saw him as a cool, experienced head in Washington.

In Esper they face another former military man, but one who is close to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton — both outspoken hawks in the Trump team.

MANAMA — Jared Kushner on Tuesday called for the Palestinians to accept the "Opportunity of the Century" that he says will pump $50 billion into a stagnant economy but told them they must first agree if they want a peace deal.

Opening the long-awaited Middle East peace initiative of his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, at a conference in Bahrain, Kushner insisted that the administration has not "given up" on the Palestinians, whose leadership is boycotting the US-led "economic workshop".

"Agreeing on an economic pathway forward is a necessary pre-condition to resolving the previously unsolvable political issues," Kushner said as he opened the two-day event before a gala dinner.

In a data-driven presentation in the style of a corporate executive, the 38-year-old adviser to Trump and family friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the need for a political solution. 

"To be clear, economic growth and prosperity for the Palestinian people are not possible without an enduring and fair political solution to the conflict — one that guarantees Israel's security and respects the dignity of the Palestinian people," he said.

But Kushner said that the political plan would come later — and that the Palestinians should first embrace the economic component, which promises billions of dollars in investment in infrastructure, tourism and education.

“My direct message to the Palestinian people is that despite what those who have let you down in the past say, President Trump and America have not given up on you,” he said.

While dismissing the mocking description of his peace plan as the “Deal of the Century”, he quickly offered another label.

“This effort is better referred to as the Opportunity of the Century, if the leadership has the courage to pursue it.”

‘Doomed to fail’ 

The Palestinian Authority and its rival Hamas have both denounced Kushner’s so-called “Peace to Prosperity” initiative, saying it amounts to a bid by the unabashedly pro-Israel Trump to buy them off in return for not enjoying their own state.

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said that the Trump administration “is insinuating that they know what is best for the Palestinian people” without addressing the underlying issue of Israeli occupation.

“Such inciting campaigns aim at making the people and leadership of Palestine accept the dictations, threats and tyranny of both the US and Israel — and they are doomed to fail,” the veteran Palestinian negotiator said in a statement earlier on Tuesday.

Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in the occupied West Bank to denounce the conference, burning pictures near Hebron of Trump.

The United States has hailed the workshop as bringing together the Israelis with Gulf Arabs due to their mutual hostility towards Iran.

US stands by Israel 

Netanyahu, who has also criticised the Palestinian boycott, has spoken in recent months of annexing parts of the West Bank, a move that could effectively end hopes of a two-state solution.

The Trump administration has hinted that its political plan will not mention a Palestinian state — a sharp shift from the goal of years of US diplomacy.

Trump has already taken landmark steps to support Israel including recognising occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and Kushner is a family friend of Netanyahu.

Saudi Arabia, which sent its finance minister, in a statement said it supported “all international efforts aiming to achieve prosperity in the region”.

But it also called for a “comprehensive and just peace” and reiterated its call for an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Jordan and Egypt were attending but only sent mid-level officials.

Prominent figures taking part in the Bahrain conference included International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, World Bank President David Malpass and former British prime minister Tony Blair.

Richard LeBaron, a former US diplomat in the Middle East, said that the Trump administration fully expected that the Palestinians would stay away.

But the conference allows Kushner to portray Palestinian leaders as not caring about their own people as he keeps advancing Israeli interests, said LeBaron, now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank.

“The ‘failure’ of the Manama workshop will be success for the Trump strategy,” he wrote in an analysis.

“It will permit Kushner and his colleagues to claim that they tried their best to address the situation and allow them to blame others for not cooperating.”

TEHRAN — Iran said Tuesday it will further free itself from the 2015 nuclear deal in defiance of new American sanctions as US President Donald Trump warned the Islamic republic of "overwhelming" retaliation for any attacks.

Tensions between Iran and the US have spiralled since last year when Trump withdrew the United States from the deal under which Tehran was to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

The two arch-rivals have been locked in an escalating war of words since Iran shot down a US surveillance drone in what it said was its own airspace, a claim the US vehemently denies.

On Monday, Washington stepped up pressure by blacklisting Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top military chiefs, saying it would also sanction Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif later in the week.

Tehran was defiant on Tuesday, saying the new US sanctions against Iran showed Washington was “lying” about an offer of talks.

“At the same time as you call for negotiations you seek to sanction the foreign minister? It’s obvious that you’re lying,” President Hassan Rouhani said.

A top security official said Iran would “resolutely” abandon more commitments under the nuclear deal on July 7.

Iran had announced on May 8 that it was suspending two of its 2015 pledges and gave Europe, China and Russia a two-month ultimatum to help it circumvent US sanctions and sell oil or it would abandon two more commitments.

“As of July 7, Iran will forcefully take the second step of reducing its commitments” to the nuclear deal, Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.

This was so “countries who interpreted Iran’s ‘patience’ with weakness and inaction realise that Iran’s answer to the American drone’s violation of its airspace will be no different than its reaction to devious political efforts to limit Iranian people’s absolute rights”, he added.

Trump warns of ‘obliteration’ 

The statements came as US national security adviser John Bolton, on a visit to Iran’s arch-enemy Israel, said Washington had “held the door open to real negotiations” but that “in response, Iran’s silence has been deafening”.

Bolton also warned Iran against disrupting a Bahrain conference on Middle East peace kicked off on Tuesday night.

“Iran has engaged over the past couple of months in a long series of unprovoked and unjustifiable attacks,” he said.

“In that kind of environment, threatening the conference in Bahrain is always a possibility,” he said.

“It would be a big mistake for Iran to continue this kind of behaviour.”

In a series of tweets, Trump warned Iran against any attack on US interests.

“Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration,” said the US president.

Iran and the US broke off diplomatic relations in 1980 over the hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran following Iran’s Islamic revolution.

Since quitting the nuclear deal and reimposing sanctions on Iran, Trump has moved to choke the country’s economy, blacklisted its Revolutionary Guards as a “terrorist organisation” and nearly launched a military strike in retaliation to Iran downing the US spy drone.

Zarif said the drone had violated Iranian airspace, a claim the US denies. But Russia, a key ally of Tehran, backed Zarif’s version of events.

Washington has also blamed Iran for mid-June attacks on two tankers in sensitive Gulf waters, a claim Iran hotly refutes.

Trump has said he is ready to negotiate with Iran “with no preconditions” and that Iran could have a “phenomenal future”.

“We do not ask for conflict,” he said, adding that depending on Iran’s response, sanctions could end tomorrow or “years from now”.

But Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said the new sanctions meant “permanent closure of the path to diplomacy with Trump’s desperate government”.

Rouhani also mocked the logic of blacklisting the supreme leader, who has few assets and no plans to visit the US.

“To sanction [the supreme leader] for what? Not to travel to America? That’s cute,” he said.

Diplomacy over? 

Rouhani noted there had been chances for talks between the two sides.

Zarif met former US secretary of state Rex Tillerson several times before Washington unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions.

“You do not seek to negotiate. If you did, we could have,” Rouhani said.

Zarif, a political moderate, was a key architect of the deal under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

But both he and Rouhani have accused Washington of waging an “economic war” on Iran since pulling out of the accord.

Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity, the UN Security Council on Monday issued a unanimous call for dialogue to address the standoff between the United States and Iran.

China on Tuesday urged “calm and restraint” as tensions grew.

RIYADH — Saudi and Yemeni special forces have captured the head of the Daesh group's branch in Yemen, the Saudi-led military coalition backing the country's government announced Tuesday.

The leader identified as Abu Osama Al Muhajir was caught in an early June raid along with other members of the militant group including its chief financial officer, coalition spokesman Turki Al Maliki said in a statement.

Saudi special forces in cooperation with their Yemeni counterparts "conducted a successful operation that resulted in the capture of the leader of the Daesh branch in Yemen — Abu Osama Al Muhajir," Maliki said.

"A house kept under close surveillance proved the presence of the terror group's leader, and other elements, along with three women and three children."

Maliki did not specify the location of the house or where the raid was conducted, but said there were no civilian casualties.

Daesh and other extremist groups have flourished in the chaos of the country's civil war, which pits the government — backed by the Saudi-led coalition — against Shiite Houthi rebels.

Daesh has lost its self-styled "caliphate" across large parts of Syria and Iraq but is said to run camps and has a number of active fighters across Yemen.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), considered by the US as the radical group's most dangerous branch, is also active in Yemen.

Last month, four suspected Al Qaeda members were killed in a suicide attack claimed by Daesh in Bayda province, a local official told AFP.

A long-running US drone war against AQAP has intensified since President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.

The more than four-year conflict in Yemen has killed tens of thousands of people, many of them civilians, relief agencies say.

The fighting has triggered what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with millions of people displaced and in need of aid.