TEHRAN – Professor Paul Pillar, who was CIA intelligence analyst for 28 years, tells the Tehran Times that The Nikki Haley show was “part of a larger campaign by the Trump administration to whip up anger against Iran.”

Pillar also says, “Pointing to military materiel that can be connected to Iran in any way is one method of trying to get people angry about Iran.”

“Certainly the Trump administration does not welcome attention to the civilian casualties that the Saudi-led air war is causing in Yemen, or to the U.S. role in assisting that air war.  Drawing attention to Iranian aid to the Houthis, or to any other Iranian military assistance in the region, helps to divert attention from the Saudi role in the Yemeni war,” Pillar tells the Tehran Times.

Following is the text of the interview:

Q: Nikki Haley, the US representative to the UN showing remnant of a missile alleged that it is Iranian by origin and was given to the Houthis in Yemen which was used against KSA. Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, refuted the claim. France, too, didn't accept Haley's claim by taking careful measures. What are the reasons behind her show?

A: The show was part of a larger campaign by the Trump administration to whip up anger against Iran.  Pointing to military materiel that can be connected to Iran in any way is one method of trying to get people angry about Iran.  Such a display makes it appear that the administration's policies are based on hard intelligence.  In fact, the policies came first, and the administration is using bits of intelligence to try to win public support for its policies.  Exactly where the Trump administration wants to go with its anti-Iran campaign is unclear.  Perhaps it is mostly a matter of getting more sanctions enacted against Iran.  Perhaps it is more a matter of getting support for confrontational military policies in the Persian Gulf region.

Q: Saudi Arabia has long been equipped with ammunitions from the US & UK. This country evaded Yemen causing the suffering of its civilian. Did Haley's show simply because diverting public opinion from the real reason of Yemen's crisis?

A: Certainly the Trump administration does not welcome attention to the civilian casualties that the Saudi-led air war is causing in Yemen, or to the U.S. role in assisting that air war.  Drawing attention to Iranian aid to the Houthis, or to any other Iranian military assistance in the region, helps to divert attention from the Saudi role in the Yemeni war.  But Haley's show was not just for that diversionary purpose; it would have taken place anyway, for the larger purpose of encouraging opposition to Iran.  

Q: Is there any relationship between the synchronization of Trump's move to declare Quds as the capital of Israel at one side and Haley's act to divert public opinion from Quds at the other side to what to try to pretend as Iran's threats?

A: The timing may have been coincidental, but the two subjects are related in the Trump administration's thinking.  The administration hopes to get closer cooperation between Israel and Gulf Arabs (especially Saudi Arabia, but also the UAE) under an anti-Iran banner.  The further hope is that the Saudis, grateful for Israeli assistance in confronting Iran and wanting to stay in good graces with a U.S. administration that is closely allied to the Israeli government, will impose on the Palestinians a peace formula that the Israelis would accept, which would mean no capital and no rights for the Palestinians in East Jerusalem.  This plan probably will not work in terms of what any Palestinian leader would accept, or what Arab public opinion would accept, but that is the administration's thinking.