Tabnak – While claiming to be trying to enter a diplomatic course with Iran, the United States is continuing to do provocative moves in both political and military spheres. Iranian officials reiterate that without a change in Washington’s behavior, no breakthrough would be expected in Iran-US relations.
In this vein, amid a continued show-of-force effort in the strategic region following Washington’s recent provocations against Tehran and Iran’s shot-down of an intruding US spy drone in the Strait of Hormuz, the US Air Force has deployed its F-22 Raptor stealth jet fighters to its military base the Persian Gulf state of Qatar.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Friday that the warplanes have arrived in Qatar’s al-Udeid Air Base for the first time to “defend American forces and interests,” US-based news outlet Military.com reported without specifying the number of the deployed aircraft. It further noted that nearly a dozen F-22s are already based in the region.
The development came after tensions between Washington and Tehran spiked last week after the shot down of a US navy RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drone by an Iranian anti-air missile battery on June 19, which followed false US allegations that blamed Iran – without verifiable evidence -- for attacking two commercial oil tankers in the Sea of Oman earlier in the month.
Meanwhile, Iran has dismissed assertions by US officials that the country should choose the path of diplomacy to deal with Washington, saying the country will stick to its policy of resisting the American pressure.
The spokesman of Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that the US definition of diplomacy with Iran under the current administration in Washington has been nothing but economic terrorism and sanctions.
The comments came in response to a recent interview by Garrett Marquis, who serves as the spokesman for the US National Security Council, in which he claimed that Iran was failing to give an appropriate response to what he described as US President Donald Trump’s pursuit of diplomacy on Tehran’s nuclear issue.
On the other hand, Senior adviser to the Iranian parliament speaker for international affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian highlighted US President Donald Trump’s frustration in dealing with the Islamic Republic and said he can save himself only by changing his behavior toward Iran.
In a recent post on his Instagram account, Amir Abdollahian said the only way for Trump to save himself from the current situation is a change of behavior toward “the robust logic” of the Iranian leadership and nation.
The Trump administration has resorted to making military action threats against Tehran, followed by announcing useless new sanctions against Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Iranian authorities have persistently maintained that while they are not looking for a confrontation with the US or any other state, but the country will never shy away from defending its territorial rights and regional interests on its own turf.
