|

Trump says there are many options 'short of war' with Iran after attacks on Saudis

News Service
09:17 - 19/09/2019 Thursday
Update: 09:19 - 19/09/2019 Thursday
REUTERS
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during his visit to a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Otay Mesa, California, U.S. September 18, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Brenner
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during his visit to a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Otay Mesa, California, U.S. September 18, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

IRAN-U.S. CONFLICT

The 2015 nuclear deal ushered in a brief detente in long hostile relations between Iran and the United States. But antagonism returned when Trump pulled out of the pact, reached before he took office, and reimposed sanctions, severely damaging the Iranian economy. Iran has ruled out talks with Washington unless it returns to the pact.

Trump said he is not looking to meet Rouhani during a U.N. event in New York this month. Rouhani and his foreign minister may not attend the General Assembly at all unless U.S. visas are issued in the coming hours, Iranian state media reported on Wednesday.

Washington and its Gulf allies want Iran to stop supporting regional proxies, including in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon.

Despite years of air strikes against it, the Houthi movement boasts drones and missiles able to reach deep into Saudi Arabia, the result of an arms race since the Western-backed coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015.

Iran's clerical rulers support the Houthis, who ousted Yemen's internationally recognised government from power in the capital Sanaa in late 2014. But Tehran denies that it actively arms and finances the Houthi movement.

#Donald Trump
#Iran
#Saudi Arabia
5 years ago