One defense officer says Miller ‘s view of reduction was not accepted as a formal, agreed – upon policy. He surprised top commanders, several defense sources said. The U.S. Premier League was urging the carrier to stay in the region to ban Iran at a time when tensions are rising and less than three weeks before President Joe Biden takes office.
U.S. officials were particularly concerned that Iran or its agents could launch an attack of some sort to one-year anniversary of the January 3 assassination of the Trump administration of Iran’s second most powerful leader, Gen. Qasem Soleimani, and Shia Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike.
Tehran’s calibrated response came until Monday, when Iran announced that it has resumed enriching uranium to 20% levels seen before the international nuclear deal froze its nuclear program in exchange for relief of sanctions. And a maritime security company said Iranian forces had detained a chemical tanker carrying the flag of a close U.S. alliance in South Korea.
Foreign diplomats and officials who closely monitor Iran said Iran is aware that the U.S. approach to Iran will change abruptly when Biden enters the White House. “I think Ioran knows in a few days that the game will start again and if they do something silly now it won’t help their situation,” one diplomat told CNN.
Another said concern has not gone down though. “There is concern around Iran around the world because there is always the potential for someone to make a mistake and go too far, or for someone to do something,” said a European diplomat. exist between Iran and the USA, so they are not always capitalized on to understand each other ‘s red lines well. ”
The State Department said it was monitoring reports that Iran had detained the tanker with a South Korean flag.
“The regime continues to threaten sailing rights and liberties in the Gulf of Persia as part of a clear effort to engage the international community in the relief of sanctions,” a spokesman said. “We will join the Republic of Korea’s call for Iran to release the tanker immediately,” they said.
The White House and NSC did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
“No one should be skeptical of the intent of the United States of America,” he said.
U.S. officials have been concerned that Iran or its agents would mark the anniversary of January 3 with an attack of some sort. President Donald Trump had threatened to “hold Iran accountable” if any Americans were killed. Along with the change of course for the USS Nimitz, the U.S. had also sent nuclear-capable bombers to the Mideast and announced the presence of nuclear submarines around the Gulf of Persia as a deterrent.
On Monday, Iran ‘s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted that “we have resumed 20% enrichment, as enacted by our Parliament. The IAEA has been duly notified, ”he said,“ Our steps are completely back on SITE compliance with ALL. “
Trita Parsi, vice president at the Quincy Institute’s foreign policy think tank, said she suspected Iran’s politics were “forcing the government to respond to all those threats posed by the Trump administration in the past few weeks. left in a way that would allow them to say they have pushed back, but not in a way that would allow Trump to attack, which would have been the case if something had happened there Iraq. ”
‘Nuclear recession’
Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, described the move as “nuclear hate, the nuclear encryption that Iran has effectively engaged in over the years.”
Citing the formal name of Iran’s nuclear deal, the Joint Action Plan, Dubowitz, said, “They count on the goal Biden has already said to go back into the JCPOA and will not calls for a nuclear crisis in their first few months in office. “
The European Union has said there will be implications for Iran’s decision. One diplomat from a member country said they did not “value” Iran’s move to increase enrichment but saw it as “all part of a negotiation process” with “the US and Iran putting signals together. ”
This diplomat agreed that Iran’s move to increase enrichment and seize the tanker with the South Korean flag was carefully chosen. “What they don’t want to do is provoke too much of a response from the current administration, but they don’t bother to kiss a bit, here they are picking up a stick at one of their closest friends in America, “said the diplomat.
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and have been working for months to release $ 7 billion in South Korea ‘s oil payments to Tehran but did not release it because of fears of U.S. oil sanctions.
While Tehran responded cautiously to the January 3 anniversary, leaders linked to Iran were clear that they would not attack US interests. On Sunday, the head of Iraq’s Shiite militia group, Kataib Hezbollah, issued a statement saying the group would not attempt to “enter” the US embassy in Baghdad, which was attacked after killing Soleimani, or trying to overthrow Iraq’s current government, even as a large crowd gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir square on Sunday to call for U.S. forces to leave the country.
“We will not enter the embassy of evil today, and we will not overthrow this government, because there is still time,” Abu Hussein Al-Hamidawi said in the statement. previously being behind attacks on U.S. facilities.