Schiff: Escalating Iran tensions ‘all too predictable’
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday that the escalation of U.S.-Iranian tensions was foreseeable given the Trump administration’s policies toward the country.
“This ratcheting up of tensions was all too predictable, all too calculated by people like Bolton and Pompeo and it has led us to the precipice of potential catastrophe,” Schiff said on CBS’s “Face The Nation.”
{mosads}”The steps the administration has taken to renege on the Iran agreement; to try to force Europe to renege on the Iran agreement; to try to force Iran to withdraw from the agreement, to go back to the path to enrichment; the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist group; the belligerent rhetoric from the administration, from Pompeo, from Bolton.”
“All of these policy decisions have lead us to a state where confrontation is far more likely and that cannot be ignored. When you take a series of steps that ratchet up tensions, you shouldn’t be surprised when the intelligence tells you ‘hey, tensions have been ratcheted up’.”
House Intel Chair @RepAdamSchiff says intelligence does show an increased threat from Iran, but calls it “predictable” because the administration’s policy decisions “have led us to a state where confrontation is far more likely” with Iran. pic.twitter.com/86j05V8ARD
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 19, 2019
Tensions with Iran have risen in the last week, with the the Trump administration sending a carrier strike group and bomber task force to the region while warning of possible conflict.
Last month, the administration designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, prompting Iran to label all U.S. forces in the Middle East as terrorists.
Trump previously withdrew the U.S. from the Obama-era nuclear deal between multiple world powers and Iran.
“This is why our allies are departing from us, this is why our allies increasingly are isolating us and not Iran,” Schiff said Sunday.
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