By staff and agency

Iran says ‘fake intelligence’ is root cause of regional problems

May 17, 2019 - 20:25

Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, has said that “fake intelligence” is the root cause of problems in the Middle East region.

“The fake intelligence which has been the root cause in all these events should be tackled, should be taken care of and we believe that as soon as we get rid of these fake intelligence all of us will be in a much better situation,” he told CBS TV network in an interview aired on Thursday.

He added, “The fake intelligence which says that Iran is culprit for the problems in the region. The fake intelligence which says that Iran creates instability in Iraq. The important issue is that even these intelligence reports are not being accepted by American allies. So these are the root causes of problems in our region.”

He noted that “nobody knows what is going to happen as long as there are armada in our region”. 

“There are fleets in our region, there are bombers in our region and the question that should be asked is why these armada are in the region? What has been going on?” he said.

According to Al Jazeera, the U.S. has approved the deployment of a Patriot missile defense battery and another warship to the Middle East amid increasing tensions with Iran.

“The Acting Secretary of Defense has approved the movement of USS Arlington (LPD-24) and a Patriot battery to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) as part of the command’s original request for forces from earlier this week,” a Pentagon statement said.

‘Trump does not want a war with Iran’

Takht Ravanchi also said that U.S. President Donald Trump does not want a war with Iran.

“But that does not mean the people who are close to him share his opinion. I do not want to interfere in the U.S. politics, but the fact of the matter is that those hardliners in the administration have been trying to provoke to agitate to create the necessary grounds for a war or a conflict with Iran,” he said.

He also noted that Iran is not interested in a war. 

“We do not want to see a war or conflict in our region,” he said.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has ruled out the possibility of war between the U.S. and Iran despite heightened tensions between the two sides.

He said on Tuesday that Washington knows engaging in such a conflict would not be in its interest.

In an interview with Sky News aired on Wednesday, Iranian Ambassador to London Hamid Baeidinejad warned about the prospect of war in the Middle East and advised the U.S. not to test Iran’s determination.

“While we have renounced any escalation in the region, I would assure you that Iranian armed forces are fully ready for any eventuality in the region, so they should not try to test the determination of Iran to confront any escalation in the region,” he said.

He added, “Our analysis is they, [or] at least President Trump, doesn’t want to engage in military confrontation with Iran because of how costly it will be for the U.S. and for the region.”

NA

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