Trump's Pentagon pick accuses Iran of ‘biggest destabilizing force’ in Middle East

US President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Defense Department, retired Marine General James Mattis, has told Congress that Iran is the “biggest destabilizing force in the Middle East.”

During his Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday, “Mad Dog” Mattis said the United States needs to forge a strategy to “checkmate Iran’s goal for regional hegemony.”

"Iran is the biggest destabilizing force in the Middle East and its policies are contrary to our interests," Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Mattis provided members of the committee with a 56-page document that is intended to serve as a guide to lawmakers who will be questioning him, and it will become part of the permanent hearing record. 

“Iranian malign influence in the region is growing,” he wrote in the document. 

The Senate on Thursday passed a waiver to a law, which bars military officers to serve as the civilian head of the Pentagon within seven years of their military service, for Mattis to become secretary of defense by a vote of 81 to 17. He retired from the Marine Corps in 2013.

'US won't cancel Iran nuclear agreement'  

However, Mattis did not echo Trump's campaign threat to shred the nuclear agreement between Iran and major powers. "When America gives our word, we have to live up to it," Mattis said.

Iran and the P5+1 group – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia plus Germany – reached the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on July 14, 2015.

In accordance to the JCPOA, which took effect in January, Iran has undertaken to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.

The US, however, has continued to maintain sanctions on Iran and a number of Iranian companies and individuals, prompting complaints from Tehran that Washington is failing to implement its side of the deal.

At the hearing, Mattis also described Russia as the top threat to US interests and said Washington must be ready to confront Moscow where necessary, even as he backed Trump's call for closer ties.

"I would consider the principle threats to start with Russia," he said after being asked about the main threats to American interests.

'Putin trying to undermine NATO'

Mattis also accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to undermine the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The retired general told lawmakers that Russia, China and terrorist groups were presenting the biggest challenge to the US-led world order since World War Two.

Mattis, 66, served more than four decades in the Marine Corps. The retired four-star general, known as “Mad Dog” and the “Warrior Monk,” had been involved in several key military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In November 2001, he led Marines that carried out a raid in helicopters on Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, giving the US military a new foothold against Taliban militants after the October 2001 American-led invasion of the country.

In 2003, Mattis commanded a division of Marines during the Iraq war, and in 2004 he led Marines in bloody street fighting in the city of Fallujah.

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