Washington 0
19 November 2020

CENTCOM Commander Kenneth McKenzie assessed that “destabilising actions by Iran… have increased in scope and severity” over the previous year, adding that “Iran’s lack of effective diplomatic or economic levers to counter the U.S. maximum pressure campaign has caused it to pursue overt and covert – or… direct and indirect – military action against the U.S. and our partners”. He further contended that “Iran has been largely deterred, because the regime now understands we possess both the capability and the will to respond... while it is possible Iran could control the early steps of escalation in those circumstances, it is also abundantly clear who would control the final steps of escalation”. McKenzie further emphasised that “while periods of decreased tension may provide the illusion of a return to normalcy, there is no question of the Iranian regime’s desire to continue malign operations that threaten lives, disrupt the internal matters of sovereign nations and threaten freedom of navigation, regional commerce, global energy supplies and the global economy”.

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