News Release

Scrutinizing the Bolton/Pompeo/Trump Threats to Iran

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Tuesday, CNN reported: “In a written statement, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton said the U.S. was deploying a carrier strike group and bomber task force to the Middle East ‘to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime.'”

Wednesday, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif tweeted: “On May 8, 2018, U.S. withdrew from #JCPOA [the The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aka, ‘the Iran nuclear deal’], violated #UNSCR 2231 & pressured others — incl #E3 [Germany, Britain and France] — to do the same. After a year of patience, Iran stops measures that U.S. has made impossible to continue. Our action is within the terms of JCPOA. EU/E3+2 [Russia and China] has a narrowing window to reverse this.”

The following analysts are available for interviews:

GARETH PORTER, porter.gareth50 at gmail.com, @GarethPorter
Porter is a noted independent investigative journalist and author of the book Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. He said today: “Donald Trump’s key advisers are looking for an excuse for an air attack on Iran, and they have now taken a big step closer to their publicly announced objective. Pompeo and Bolton both threatened war with Iran last September over a few mortar shells landng in the vicinity of … the U.S. Embassy and a consulate in Iraq, blaming Iran-backed militias that are fighting ISIS. Now they have broadened the rationale for war to include any attack on an ally’s interests — after consultations with the Israelis last month.” Earlier this year, Porter wrote the piece “The Right May Finally Get Its War on Iran.”

PAUL PILLAR, prp8 at georgetown.edu
Pillar was an analyst at the CIA for 28 years. He is now a nonresident senior fellow at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown. On Tuesday, LobeLog published his piece “Bolton’s War.”

DAN KOVALIK, DKovalik at usw.org, @danielmkovalik
Kovalik is author of the book “The Plot to Attack Iran” (2018, from Simon & Schuster.)

TRITA PARSI, tparsi at gmail.com, @tparsi
Parsi is founder of the National Iranian American Council and author of Losing an Enemy. He sent out a thread on Twitter Wednesday morning: “Tehran’s retaliation against the Trump administration’s violations of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal is making the costs and dangers of Trump’s disastrous Iran policy clear for all to see. …”