Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Friday denied reports circulating in Australia’s media that the U.S. is planning to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities with the help of Australian intelligence.
“I have no idea where the Australian newspeople got that … I am confident it is not something that is being considered right now. I think it’s…frankly it’s fiction as best I can give you,” Mattis said, according to Tara Copp of the Military Times.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported late Thursday that officials in Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull’s government believe Washington is prepared to bomb Iranian facilities as early as August. Citing “senior figures” in the government, ABC also reported that Australian military intelligence would “likely play a role in identifying targets in Iran.”
The speculation about an impending American strike comes on the heels of a bout of saber-rattling between President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders. Trump admonished Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Twitter late Sunday night, warning that any future threats against the U.S. would be met with “consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before.”
Trump’s tweet appeared to be in response to a speech Rouhani gave earlier that day, in which he said that Americans “must understand that war with Iran is the mother of all wars and peace with Iran is the mother of all peace.” Rouhani later shrugged off Trump’s tweet, but said Iran should respond to Washington with “action,” not words. (RELATED: Iran Responds To Trump’s Threat: ‘BE CAUTIOUS!’)
“There is no need for us to respond to any nonsensical comment and answer back to them,” he told his cabinet on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. “We should respond to them with action.”
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have worsened since May, when Trump pulled the U.S. out of a 2015 agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for international sanctions relief. The Trump administration says the deal was not tough enough and did nothing to curb Iran’s destabilizing actions in the Middle East, while Tehran has accused Washington of reneging on a good-faith agreement as a pretext for regime change.
Mattis had originally opposed withdrawing from the nuclear deal, putting him in a minority of Trump national security aides who argued the deal should be kept in place while Washington applied pressure in other areas. Still, Mattis has consistently argued that Iran is the greatest threat to peace and stability in the Persian Gulf region.
“[Iran] cannot continue to show irresponsibility as some revolutionary organization that is intent on exporting terrorism, exporting disruption across the region,” Mattis said Tuesday at Stanford’s Hoover Institution.
“The president was making very clear that they’re on the wrong track,” he added.
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