Iran has chosen to "step back and recalculate" after making preparations for an apparent attack against US forces in the Arabian Gulf region, but it is too early to conclude the threat is gone, the top American commander has said.
In an interview with three reporters accompanying him to the Gulf, the head of the US Central Command, Gen. Frank McKenzie, said he remains concerned by Iran's potential for aggression, and he would not rule out requesting additional US forces to bolster defenses against Iranian missiles or other weapons.
"I don't actually believe the threat has diminished," McKenzie said at the Baghdad headquarters of the US-led coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria. "I believe the threat is very real."
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have worsened since President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and several world powers, and reinstated sanctions on Tehran. Last month, in response to what American officials characterized as an imminent threat, the US announced it would rush an aircraft carrier and other assets to the region.
The US also blamed Iran for last month's attacks on oil tankers off the United Arab Emirates.
In Baghdad, McKenzie told reporters from The Associated Press and two other media organizations that US redeployments to the Gulf have "caused the Iranians to back up a little bit, but I'm not sure they are strategically backing down."
The general said the US is showing enough force to "establish deterrence" without "needlessly" provoking its longtime adversary. "We're working very hard to walk that line."
He said he is confident in the moves he has made thus far.
"We've taken steps to show the Iranians that we mean business in our ability to defend ourselves," he said, referring to the accelerated deployment to the Gulf area of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, four Air Force B-52 bombers and additional batteries of Army Patriot air-defense systems.
He said the intelligence on Iranian threats in the first days of May was "compelling" and that the threats were "advanced, imminent and very specific."
