US Defense Chief Urges Iran to Hold Talks with US

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper urged Iran Wednesday to enter discussions with the United States in order to ease tensions in the Persian Gulf region.

"We are not seeking conflict with Iran. We want to engage with them diplomatically," Esper said in his first formal press conference after being confirmed last month.

"The president said once again he is willing to meet with Iran's leaders," he said.

"We hope that the Iranians would agree to meet and talk and help us resolve these issues."

At the G7 meeting in Biarritz, France on Monday, Trump, whose government has aggressively sought to pressure Tehran, showed openness to French President Emmanuel Macron's proposal of a summit with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani.

"If the circumstances were correct, I would certainly agree to that," Trump said at a joint press conference with Macron.

That could be the ice-breaker needed to end more than two years of heightened hostilities between the two countries.

Breaking with his predecessor Barack Obama, Trump enacted a policy of "maximum pressure" on Tehran over its disputed nuclear program and last year unilaterally withdrew from the landmark 2015 international deal that placed limits on Tehran's nuclear activities.

Tensions over that move have gradually risen, with Iran seizing tankers in the Gulf in recent months and Britain detaining an Iranian tanker off of Gibraltar.

In the wake of that, the US launched its "Operation Sentinel," a naval operation to protect commercial shipping in the Gulf.

"I am pleased to report that Operation Sentinel is up and running, with the UK, Australia and Bahrain joining us in this effort," Esper said.

He said other countries would likely soon join, and that the operation had helped calm the region.

"Between our presence and the presence of our allies and partners in the region, I think so far, further bad, provocative behavior has been deterred," Esper said.

"We want to talk to Iran, and talk about a diplomatic path forward," he said, adding: "I'm not sure I'm ready to call the crisis over yet. So far, so good."

Photo: Wikicommons

US Calls for EU Sanctions on Iranian Ballistic Program

The United States urged the European Union on Monday to apply sanctions targeting Iran's ballistic missile program, calling it a "grave and escalating threat."

Over the weekend, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo charged that Iran tested a medium-range missile capable of carrying multiple warheads and striking parts of Europe and the entire Middle East.

He said the test violated UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the Iran nuclear deal signed by world powers with the Islamic republic.

"The Iranian government claims that its missile testing is purely defensive in nature. It's not defensive," Washington's Iran special envoy Brian Hook told reporters aboard Pompeo's plane as he traveled to Brussels for a NATO meeting.

"We would like to see the European Union move sanctions that target Iran's missile program."

Hook said President Donald Trump's campaign of "maximum pressure" on Tehran since withdrawing from the Iran  nuclear deal "can be effective if more nations can join us in those (sanctions)."

"It is a grave and escalating threat, and nations around the world, not just Europe, need to do everything they can to be targeting Iran's missile program," he added.

Hook said "progress" was being made on getting NATO allies to consider a proposal to target individuals and entities that play key roles in Iran's missile program.

The United States decided in May to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions on Iran.

EU countries have denounced the move and are working to preserve the nuclear deal, even though they have also criticized Iranian positions on other matters.

Photo Credit: IRNA

US Creates 'Iran Action Group' to Up Pressure on Tehran

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a new high-level team to focus US and international efforts to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran.

The Iran Action Group will drive Washington's "maximum pressure" strategy to change Tehran's behavior, including potentially sanctioning other countries which trade with the country.

The group will be headed by Brian Hook as the State Department's Special
Representative for Iran. 

Hook, currently director of policy planning at the State Department, was in charge of the failed effort to get support from US allies for Washington's decision in May to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.

"For nearly 40 years the regime in Tehran has been responsible for a torrent of violence and destabilizing behavior against the United States, our allies, our partners and indeed the Iranian people themselves," said Pompeo. 

"Our hope is that one day soon we can reach a new agreement with Iran. But we must see major changes in the regime's behavior both inside and outside its borders."

The US has laid out a long list of activities it demands Tehran changes, including halting support for the Syrian government and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, shutting down its nuclear development program, and freeing detained Americans.

"This team is committed to a strong global effort to change the Iranian regime's behavior," Hook said. 

"We want to be closely synchronized with our allies and partners around the world."

Hook, who met with officials from Britain, France and Germany on Iran policy in London on Wednesday, held out the possibility of the US engaging directly with Iranian leaders if they demonstrate a "commitment" to changing their behavior.

But he was not specific on what would be the minimum required to make that impression.

He also said that Washington is stepping up its effort to get other countries to fall in line with economic pressure on Tehran, including the crackdown on Iran's oil trade, financial sector and shipping industry announced for early November.

"Our goal is to reduce every country's import of Iranian oil to zero by November 4."

"We are prepared to impose secondary sanctions on other governments that continue this sort of trade with Iran."

Last week Trump warned the world about doing business with Iran, as European allies continued to grumble about the US policy and China, India and Turkey appeared poised to continue importing Iranian oil, providing the Iranian government crucial foreign exchange.

But the US sanctions appear to have had effect, tightening the country's supply of dollars and sending its currency in a tailspin—with the result a jump in inflation that has hurt Iranian consumers.

In Monday Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's said there would be neither war nor negotiations with the United States, and put the blame for mounting domestic economic turmoil on the shoulder of President Hassan Rouhani.

US officials have repeatedly said they only pressuring for a change in Iranian behavior and not change in the regime itself.

Asked whether the announcement of the Iran Action Group was purposely timed with 65th anniversary of the CIA-engineered overthrow of ex-prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh—which took place in mid-August 1953—Hook labelled it "pure coincidence."

Photo Credit: State Department

US Navy Sees Better Iranian Behavior in Persian Gulf

The Iranian military's behavior in the Persian Gulf has changed "across the board" in recent months, the US Navy said on Thursday, after years of tensions in the busy waterway.

Commander Bill Urban, spokesman for the Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, said there had been no "unsafe or unprofessional" interactions with the Iranians at sea since August 14, 2017 when an Iranian drone with no lights on flew close to US aircraft operating in the Gulf.

It "is a substantial period time since then, and something that we think is great," Urban told reporters.

Last year and in 2016, the US Navy complained repeatedly about the behaviour of Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels, which would often shadow and steer towards US ships.

In at least one incident, US sailors had to fire flares and warning shots before the Iranians turned away.

Urban said that since then, the Iranians have stopped approaching so closely.

"We have seen an across-the-board change in behaviour," Urban said. "I don't necessarily have a reason for that but it's pretty clear that it's something they are consciously doing."

The change comes amid increased rhetoric from Washington about Iran's "malign influence" in the region and US President Donald Trump's persistent railing against the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The Fifth Fleet and its associated task forces patrol the Gulf continuously and inspect some of the ships passing through.

In 2016, navy personnel seized weapons, including machine guns and rocket launchers, they suspected were headed from Iran to Yemen.

Urban said task forces this year have seized record amounts of heroin, some of which may have been from the Taliban, Afghanistan's biggest militant group. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards is a paramilitary force that answers directly to the Islamic republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In January 2016, the Iranians briefly captured the crew of two small US patrol boats that strayed into Iranian waters. The 10 US sailors were released 24 hours later.

Photo Credit: Global Military Review