Iran’s foreign minister on Thursday warned US PresidentDonald Trump he was mistaken to think a war between their countries would beshort, as Washington sought NATO’s help to build an anti-Tehran coalition.
The latest developments in the Iran-US standoff came as adiplomatic source in Vienna said Tehran would not exceed a uranium stockpilelimit agreed with world powers, contrary to what it had said earlier thismonth.
Iran had set Thursday as a deadline to surpass the agreed300-kilogram reserve of enriched uranium because it no longer felt bound bycertain limits contained in the 2015 deal, which the United States unilaterallypulled out of in May 2018.
“They won’t exceed it today,” the diplomaticsource, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP in Vienna on the eve of ameeting by a commission that oversees the nuclear deal.
The source suggested there might be a “politicalreason” for this, given intensified efforts by European governments inrecent days to de-escalate tensions in the Gulf region.
The tensions, sparked by Trump’s withdrawal from the nucleardeal, were exacerbated earlier this month when Iran shot down a US spy droneover the strategic Gulf after a series of tanker attacks that Washington blamedTehran for despite its denials.
Since then the arch-foes have been locked in a war of words,which escalated this week when Trump announced new sanctions against Iran’ssupreme leader Ali Khamenei and top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif.
“‘Short war’ with Iran is an illusion,” Zarifwrote on Twitter a day after Trump said he does not want a war with Iran butwarned that if fighting did break out, it “wouldn’t last very long”.
The Iranian foreign minister added: “Whoever begins warwill not be the one ending it.”
On Wednesday, Trump hinted that any conflict would be wagedwith air strikes, saying there would be no US boots on the ground.
In an interview on Fox Business Network, Trump was asked ifAmerica was going to go to war with Iran.
“Well, I hope we don’t but we’re in a very strongposition if something should happen. We’re in a very strong position,”Trump said.
“It wouldn’t last very long, I can tell you that. AndI’m not talking boots on the ground.” His remarks came after IranianPresident Hassan Rouhani tried to rein in the crisis between the two sides,saying that Tehran “never seeks war” with Washington.
But as the tensions remained high, the acting US defencechief on Thursday pressed NATO allies to join Washington’s efforts to squeezeIran and ensure the safety of ships in the Gulf after the tanker attacks.
Mark Esper urged allies to “consider public statementscondemning Iran’s bad behaviour and making the point that we need to havefreedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz”.
He also sought to “internationalise” the Iranissue, at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels devoted to discussingthe Iran-US crisis.
Many European countries have been alarmed at the Trumpadministration’s hawkish approach to Iran, fearing the US policy of”maximum pressure” is counterproductive and could lead to war.
Any NATO involvement in the Gulf would need unanimoussupport from all 29 member states, and given European unease this would beextremely difficult to achieve.
“We would like to see more calm from the two actors butwe really don’t want this to become a NATO issue,” said a diplomat fromthe alliance in Brussels.
Under the landmark deal with world powers in 2015, Iranpledged to reduce its nuclear capacities for several years and to allowinspectors into the country to monitor its activities in return for relief frominternational sanctions.
The deal set a limit on the number of uranium-enrichingcentrifuges, and restricted Iran’s right to enrich uranium to no higher than3.67 percent, well below weapons-grade levels of about 90 percent.
But after being hit by waves of crippling UN sanctions, theIslamic republic said in May it would gradually step away from its commitments.
Tehran has also threatened to start enriching uranium abovethe agreed purification level of 3.67 percent starting from July 7.