Tabnak - During the last several weeks and especially after North Korea’s successive missile tests, the focus of Washington’s security, political and military threats diverted temporarily from Tehran to Pyongyang. The launch of four ballistic missiles by North Korea toward the Sea of Japan last Sunday, caused the international focus on North Korea to reach the highest level.
However, it seems that the hardline US officials and media are still trying to keep Iran at the center of international focus and not to let North Korea’s military activities to push Iran "out of the sight” of the new US administration.
In this vein, "Fox News” published a report last night, quoting some high-ranking US officials as saying that Iran had tested two new ballistic missiles. The report claimed that the two missiles were launched from a Revolutionary Guards missile site in Southeastern Iran on Saturday and Sunday.
The most interesting part of the story however was the US officials’ obvious intention to link these tests with those of North Korea, claiming that Iran had launched the missiles on the same day as Pyongyang’s latest tests. Fox News also notes that the missile tests done right after Iran’s military exercise in the Southern parts of the country and also the successful test of Russian-made S-300 missile systems in Iran.
On the other hand, American media have during the last days widely covered the reports of close encounters between some Iranian vessels and a US intelligence ship in the Strait of Hormuz, which occurred on Thursday and Friday. In an analysis of the story, "Washington Post” claimed that one could anticipate more serious encounters between the two sides in the near future.
Referring to the reports, a high-ranking Republican senator asked the White House to adopt a more serious and strict approach toward Iran. Describing Iran’s behavior as "provocative”, the Head of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker claimed that such activities were the latest signs of Iran’s "dangerous behavior” and it needs a coordinated and comprehensive response from the US.
The way American media covered these stories and also Corker’s comments clearly show that the new US administration, together with the hardline American lawmakers are still trying to keep Iran at the focus of international attention and not to let the other security threats around the world to shadow the priority of confronting Iran.
These attempts could be analyzed in line with Donald Trump’s overall approach to "keep Iran on notice” and contain the country both regionally and internationally. However, it’s in fact the continuation of the general policy US has applied against Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
