Russian Foreign Minister Warns US: Sending Additional Military Troops In Middle East Could Create New Risks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, commenting on US President Donald Trump’s intention to additionally send 1,500 troops to the Middle East, said Monday any increase in military potential would result in new risks.

“As for President Trump’s decision to send 1,500 troops in addition to those deployed in the Middle East and North Africa region, well, you know, always when the military potential grows, the risks increase. I very much hope that the sensible voices that are heard from Washington, including the respected former military leaders, politicians, diplomats about the recklessness of the idea of war against Iran, will be heard,” Lavrov told reporters.

US President Donald Trump earlier said the United States would additionally deploy about 1,500 troops to the Middle East to protect the already deployed US military in the region. Iran, for its part, denounced the move as “a threat to international peace.”

As part of the new deployment, reconnaissance aircraft, fighter jets and engineers, with six hundred personnel belonging to a Patriot missile defence battalion in the region, will be included.

The Pentagon has justified the move to deploy additional troops due to a series of minor attacks in May allegedly conducted by Iranian forces, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and “proxy” forces, while Tehran has strongly any involvement.

Responding to the latest US moves to build up forces in the region, Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday that the country will defend itself against any “war efforts”.

The US-Iranian relations became tense in 2018 as US President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal and subsequently introduced fresh sanctions targeting Tehran.

Source: Sputnik