TEHRAN: Tehranwarned Washington yesterday that any attack would see its interests across theMiddle East go up in flames after US President Donald Trump said he called offa strike at the 11th hour. The aborted military action was to have been inresponse to Iran's downing of a US reconnaissance drone, which has seentensions between the two countries soar after a series of attacks on oiltankers the US has blamed on Iran.
"Firing onebullet towards Iran will set fire to the interests of America and itsallies" in the region, armed forces general staff spokesman BrigadierGeneral Abolfazl Shekarchi told the Tasnim news agency. "If the enemy -especially America and its allies in the region - make the military mistake ofshooting the powder keg on which America's interests lie, the region will beset on fire," Shekarchi warned.
Hours after hiscomments, Iran said it had executed a man convicted of spying for the US."The execution sentence was carried out for Jalal Haji Zavar, a contractorfor the defense ministry's aerospace organization who spied for the CIA and theAmerican government," semi-official ISNA news agency reported, quoting theIranian military.
The United Stateswas "cocked & loaded" to strike Iran late Thursday, US PresidentDonald Trump said while announcing he had pulled back at the last minute as itwould not have been a "proportionate" response to Tehran's shootingdown of an unmanned drone. Under pressure to respond to the high-stakesincident near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, Trump said the US was prepared tohit "3 different sites" Thursday night but that he scrapped thestrikes "10 minutes" before they were to have been launched. "Iasked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General,"the president tweeted, saying he concluded it would not have been"proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone".
According toexcerpts of an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" conducted Fridaymorning at the White House, Trump said he had not given final approval tostrikes against Iran, and that no planes were in the air. "But they wouldhave been pretty soon. And things would have happened to a point where youwouldn't turn back or couldn't turn back," he said. He added that he didnot want war with Iran, but if it came to pass, there would be"obliteration like you've never seen before".
Yesterday, Trumpsaid that he would be Iran's "best friend" and that the Islamicrepublic could be a "wealthy" country if it renounced nuclearweapons. "We're not going to have Iran have a nuclear weapon," Trumptold reporters outside the White House as he prepared to depart for Camp Davidfor meetings on the situation with Iran. "When they agree to that, they'regoing to have a wealthy country. They're going to be so happy, and I'm going tobe their best friend. I hope that happens."
"Let's makeIran great again," he added, tweaking for the occasion his main domesticpolitical mantra. He said yesterday that more sanctions were on the way,without elaborating. "Everyone was saying I'm a warmonger, and now theysay I'm a dove," Trump said yesterday as he was peppered with questionsabout the Iran drama. "I think I am neither, if you want to know thetruth. I'm a man with common sense, and that's what we need in this country, iscommon sense."
Trump insisted itis up to the Iranian leadership how the current crisis plays out. "If theleadership of Iran behaves badly, then it's going to be a very, very bad dayfor them," he said. "But hopefully they're smart and hopefully theyreally care for their people and not themselves, and hopefully we can get Iranback on to an economic track that's fantastic, where they're a really wealthynation, which would be a wonderful thing," he added.
The US presidenthad struck a combative tone in initial comments Thursday about the downing ofthe Global Hawk surveillance aircraft, but as the predawn incident whipped upfears of open conflict, Trump moved to dial back tensions. Tehran insists thatthe drone violated its airspace - something Washington denies - but wasprepared to accept on Friday that it might have done so by accident.
The drone couldhave entered Iran's airspace over a mistake by "a general or someoperators", the commander of the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace arm,Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh told state news agency IRNA yesterday."Nonetheless, this was an act of trampling international aviation laws bya spy aircraft," Hajizadeh added.
The Pentagonpublished a map of the drone's flight path indicating it avoided Iranianwaters, but Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif yesterday publishedmaps showing the aircraft inside its territory when it was downed. "Therecan be no doubt about where the vessel was when it was brought down," hewrote on Twitter, providing coordinates.
The foreignministry said it had summoned the charge d'affaires of the United ArabEmirates, from where the US drone launched, to protest against its decision to"put its installations at the disposal of foreign forces foraggression" against Iran. Britain said it Minister of State for the MiddleEast Andrew Murrison would travel today to Tehran for talks.
The US specialrepresentative on Iran, Brian Hook, accused Tehran of rejecting diplomaticovertures to deescalate the crisis, saying "Iran needs to meet diplomacywith diplomacy, not military force". Iran's foreign ministry spokesmanAbbas Mousavi retorted that US "diplomacy" towards Tehran was"years of #EconomicTerrorism & war, and violating commitments".
The US FederalAviation Administration has barred American civilian aircraft from the area"until further notice," and major non-US airlines including BritishAirways, KLM, Lufthansa, Qantas, Emirates and Etihad said they too werealtering flight paths to avoid the sensitive Strait of Hormuz. The Pentagonsays the Global Hawk drone - one of the most expensive pieces of equipment inthe US arsenal, costing over $120 million apiece - was 34 km from Iran whendestroyed by a surface-to-air missile in an "unprovoked attack."
The downing camewith Iran already accused by Washington of carrying out attacks on tankers inthe congested shipping lanes out of the Gulf, charges Tehran denies. Trump hasrepeatedly said he does not favor war with Iran unless it is to stop thecountry getting a nuclear weapon - something Iranian leaders insist they arenot pursuing. But critics say his policy of "maximum pressure" -including abandonment of an international deal to regulate Iran's nuclearactivities, economic sanctions and deployment of extra troops to the region -make war ever more likely. - Agencies