BICOM

Senior Trump administration officials told Congress yesterday that Iran was behind a drone attack on a Saudi pipeline, damage to ships in the Persian Gulf and a rocket fired near the US embassy in Baghdad.

A private briefing to Congressional leaders was given by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting Secretary of Defence Patrick Shanahan, Chairman of Joint Chiefs General Joseph Dunford and an official from the US Defence Intelligence Agency.

Republican lawmakers emerged from the briefing blaming Iran for recent incidents. Speaking after the briefings, Democrat Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said: “Secretary Pompeo made a very lengthy political argument and he argued, ‘Here are all the terrible things that Iran has done’, and he spent about 10 minutes until I cut him off … and as every member who stood up has said, ‘We know Iran is bad. What is the policy going forward?’ There wasn’t enough information on that.”

Two US officials confirmed in the briefing that a rocket attack in late April against US forces at Camp Taji in Iraq was attributed to Iranian-backed forces and raised concerns about Iran improving its precision targeting abilities, particularly because a drone was observed hovering at the time.

The acting Secretary of Defence, Patrick Shanahan, told reporters after the briefings: “I think our steps were very prudent and we’ve put on hold the potential for attacks on Americans and that’s what’s extremely important. I’d say we’re in a period where the threat remains high and our job is to make sure that there is no miscalculation by the Iranians.”

He did not publicly share details of the “credible information” related to the issue, but added: “I just hope Iran is listening. We’re in the region to address many things, but it’s not to go to war with Iran.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has warned that the US is risking war by boosting its forces in the Persian Gulf. He told CNN: “Having all these military assets in a small area is in of itself prone to accidents, extreme prudence is required and the US is playing a very, very dangerous game.”

He added: “Iran never negotiates with coercion. You cannot threaten any Iranian and expect them to engage. The way to do it is through respect, not through threats.”