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Iran's National Security Council Dismisses Bolton Remarks


Kayvan Khosravi, Spokesman of the Supreme national Security Council of Iran. File photo
Kayvan Khosravi, Spokesman of the Supreme national Security Council of Iran. File photo

The spokesman of the Islamic Republic Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) dismissed on Monday, May 6, the White House national security adviser's latest comment on Iran as an "amateurish use of a routine event."

A day earlier, the White House had announced that the United States was sending an aircraft carrier strike group and Air Force bombers to the Middle East because of "troubling and escalatory indications and warnings" related to Iran.

In a statement released Sunday night, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, also announced, the deployment was intended "to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force."

Without providing details, Bolton also said the move was in response to "a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings", and added, "The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), or regular Iranian forces".

The U.S. has routinely kept an aircraft carrier strike group in the region since the 1980s.

Dismissing Bolton's remarks as mainly a "show off," SNSC's spokesman, Kayvan Khosravi said, "Bolton is devoid of military and intelligence wisdom."

Furthermore, Khosravi said in his message, "It is highly unlikely…the U.S. armed forces have any inclination to test Iranian armed forces' proven capability."

Meanwhile, on Monday, one day after the United States said it would send a carrier strike group to the Middle East to counter a "credible threat by Iranian regime forces," the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States has seen activity from Iran that indicated a possible "escalation."

While visiting Finland, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration is intensifying pressure to "get Iran to behave like a normal nation."

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