Washington DC, June 17: US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has on Sunday said the United States does not seek war with Iran but will apply necessary actions against it, including diplomacy in order to guarantee safe navigation through ship lanes in the Middle East.
According to Reuters news reports, during the interview, Pompeo left open the possible intervention of US military action in the region but however, did not discuss further details.
Washington-Tehran tensions have soared over a series of events following an accusation from President Donald Trump administration that Iran was to blame for the recent two oil tanker attack in the Gulf of Oman on last Thursday, though Tehran has denied any wrongdoing.
In an interview with “Fox News Sunday”, the state secretary said, “We don’t want war. We’ve done what we can to deter this,” adding, “The Iranians should understand very clearly that we will continue to take actions that deter Iran from engaging in this kind of behavior.”
He also defended the US conclusion on blaming Iran for oil tanker attacks, stating there was separate evidence besides the video footage released last week.
Pompeo said, “The intelligence community has lots of data, lots of evidence. The world will come to see much of it.”
On Saturday, Saudi Arabi joined Washington blaming Iran for the oil tanker attacks, calling for the international community to implement swift measures in order to secure Gulf energy supplies.
The Hormuz Strait is a vital transit route in the Middle East for oil shipments from Saudi Arabia – the world’s largest crude oil exporters- and other Gulf producers.
Pompeo stated Washington would take “all actions necessary, diplomatic and otherwise” in order to guarantee safe transit through the vital shipping lanes. He also said America was discussing the potential international response, stating he made numerous calls to international leaders regarding the issue on Saturday,
“I’m confident that when they see the risk, the risk of their own economies and their own people and outrageous behavior of the Islamic Republic of Iran, they will join us in this.”