TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2019) Iranian Navy Commander Rear Adm. Hossein Khanadi said on Sunday, commenting on Washington's decision to increase i the middle East, that the United States must leave the region.
Earlier in the week, Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has approved the deployment of the Patriot missile defense system and USS Arlington (LPD-24) to the Middle East. Earlier in the month, the United States said it was deploying USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force near Iran to an area controlled by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) to send "a clear and unmistakable message" to Tehran.
"The presence of the Americans in the Persian Gulf region has reached its end and they must leave the region," Khanadi said as quoted by the Iranian Students' news Agency (ISNA).
Washington is seeking to increase the likelihood of war when sending an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, he added.
Tensions have been running high between Iran and the United States since last May, when US President Donald Trump, a long-time critic of the historic Iran nuclear deal, pulled out of the agreement. In less than a year, Washington unveiled several rounds of sanctions against the Islamic republic, targeting the country's finance, transport, military and other spheres.
Tehran informed earlier in the week the ambassadors of China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom of its decision to suspend some of its obligations under the nuclear deal. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that he gave European countries 60 days to ensure that Iran's interests were protected under the agreement.
