TOKYO- US Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Saturday that Iran was the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism.
‘As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world,’ Mattis said in a categorical remark during press talk in Tokyo, trumpeting the arrival of tough days for Iran under Trump administration.
The secretary clarified that US had no plans to increase troop numbers in the Middle East in response to Iran’s tests.
‘It does no good to ignore it. It does no good to dismiss it and at the same time I don’t see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time,’ he said.
‘We always have the capability to do so but right now I don’t think it’s necessary’ he added.
US officials said that the new sanctions, announced on Friday, were in response to Iran’s ballistic missile test this week and its support for Huthi rebels in Yemen.
Donald Trump is already annoyed over Iran’s ballistic missile test but Iran simply shrugged off allegations claiming that the test was in compliance with nuclear accord.
“The recent test was in line with our plans and we will not allow foreigners to interfere in our defense affairs,” Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan said, according to Tasnim news agency.
However, Trump said that Iran was playing with fire in a tweet Friday morning before the sanctions were announced.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/827478751931924480
