ALLIES AT WAR
Britain and Pentagon clash over Iran threat as Brit general rubbishes US warnings of ‘planned attack’ amid evacuation panic
BRITISH top brass backed a senior officer who dismissed Pentagon warnings that Iranian backed militants were plotting a wave of attacks on Western targets in the Middle East.
Major-General Chris Ghika said yesterday that “there’s been no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria”.
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An aircraft carrier group and B52 bombers are among the heavy firepower being deployed as Pentagon builds up its forces in response to the as yet unspecified threats.
Yesterday the US Embassy in Iraq ordered all non-essential, non-emergency government staff to immediately flee the country amid escalating tensions with Iran.
But in a briefing yesterday General Ghika had suggested measures to protect US and coalition forces from Tehran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria were “completely satisfactory”.
But in a rare move, the Pentagon was quick to rebuff the British general, who is a top military commander in the US-led battle against ISIS.
Captain Bill Urban, spokesman for US Central Command, said General Ghika’s remarks “run counter to the identified credible threats available to intelligence from US and allies regarding Iranian-backed forces in the region”.
Captain Urban added that Operation Inherent Resolve, the US-led counter-ISIS mission, was “now at a high level of alert as we continue to closely monitor credible and possibly imminent threats to US forces in Iraq”.
DOUBTS OVER INTELLIGENCE SHARING
But his statement raises questions about how much military intelligence the US is sharing with Britain on the alleged threat from Iran.
General Ghika’s comments underline international scepticism about the threat from Iran.
But a US official has claimed earlier this week Iran used explosives to blow huge holes in four ships - including two Saudi oil tankers - anchored in the Persian Gulf.
The ships now reportedly have ruptures measuring up to ten foot across in their hulls as a result of Sunday's sabotage attacks.
However, the Pentagon had already warned ships that "Iran or its proxies" could be targeting maritime traffic in the region.
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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday: “There won’t be any war.
“The Iranian nation has chosen the path of resistance.
“We don’t seek a war, and they don’t either. They know it’s not in their interests.”
President Donald Trump withdrew the United States a year ago from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and global powers under which Tehran curbed its uranium enrichment capacity, a potential pathway to a nuclear bomb, and won sanctions relief in return.
Since then, Trump has ratcheted up sanctions on Iran, seeking to reduce its lifeblood oil exports to zero, to push Tehran into fresh negotiations on a broader arms control deal, targeting in part the Iranian ballistic missile program.
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