By Itzhak Rabihiya
After Trump calls off retaliatory strike, his national security adviser says Tehran has not been granted a ‘hunting license in Middle East’
Iran should not misinterpret US President Donald Trump’s decision not to retaliate over the shooting down of an American drone last week as weakness, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said Sunday in Jerusalem. “Neither Iran nor any other hostile actor should mistake US prudence and discretion for weakness. No one has granted them a hunting license in the Middle East,” he said before a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Friday, Trump acknowledged that he had ordered a halt to a planned strike on three Iranian military sites that would have killed 150 people, reasoning that the death toll was disproportionate to Iran’s shooting down of an unmanned drone earlier last week over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran argues the drone had crossed into Iranian airspace, a claim Washington denies.
Bolton, known as one of the most hawkish senior members of the administration, arrived in Israel on Saturday to attend a tripartite meeting Tuesday of the national security advisers of the US, Israel and Russia.
“As we meet, threats to international peace and security in the Middle East and around the world are on the rise,” Bolton said.
“Iran’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons; its threats to exceed the limits set in the failed nuclear deal in the coming days; its continuing buildup of menacing Quds Force capabilities in Syria and Iraq; its supply of sophisticated drones, missiles and other advanced weapons to hostile surrogate forces in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Afghanistan; and continued threat and acts of aggression against Israel, our allies in the Arabian Gulf and against US personal and assets across the Middle East, are not signs of a nation seeking peace.”
Bolton went on to quote Trump, who over the weekend reiterated that Iran will “never” be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon, saying that the US military “is rebuilt, new and ready to go,” and that US-imposed economic sanctions “are biting.” Additional sanctions will be formally announced on Monday, Bolton confirmed.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met today (Sunday, 23 June 2019), at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, with US National Security Adviser John Bolton.
Netanyahu said; "Your visit is an opportunity to strengthen that alliance even further, as well as to discuss how best to address the enormous challenges we face together in the Middle East, particularly at this sensitive time. As you know, Iran has long been conducting a campaign of aggression and terror across the region – in Iraq, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Yemen and elsewhere. When sanctions against Iran were removed a few years ago as part of the nuclear deal and tens of billions of dollars began to pour into Iran’s coffers, Iran’s aggression increased dramatically.
I want to state this very clearly: The supporters of the Iran deal argued that the infusion of cash, massive cash into Iran’s economy, would moderate Iran. They argued that Iran would become inward-focused, would start nation-building. And in fact, the opposite has happened. The very opposite has happened. Iran used those hundreds of billions of dollars to fund empire-building, not nation-building – that is the stamping of one state after the other, and the devouring of one state after another in the Middle East. Those who argue that Iran’s aggression began after the recent actions are not living on the same planet. This is completely false.
We in Israel saw Iran’s aggression in their increased efforts to establish Iranian military bases in Syria, in their increased efforts to provide sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah, in their increased financial support for terror proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This increased right after the deal, right after the deal. With the removal of sanctions, we in Israel could see an explosion of terror and aggression. Likewise, our Arab neighbors saw exactly the same thing. They saw Iran’s aggression in Iran’s increased support for terror groups that threaten them, from the Shiite militias in Iraq to the Houthis in Yemen.
Attached photo credit: Haim Zach (GPO)
