US President Donald Trump has stepped up Washington’s anti-Iran rhetoric, saying the White House has formally put Tehran “on notice” over its recent ballistic missile test. However, Iran says such missile tests are the nation’s inalienable right to self-defense and they do not breach UN resolutions because they are solely for defense purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads.
An author and Middle East expert believes the United Sates is using Iran's defensive missile program as a “totally bogus pretext” for aggression against the country, adding that the missile tests are not even part of Iran's nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with the P5+1 group of countries.
“So what is really going on here is that the United States government, which is dominated by Zionists, is currently dominated by the extremist Zionists around [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu. Those people are just all out for war with anybody they can find. Iran is the most convenient target for them,” Kevin Barrett told Press TV in an interview on Friday.
He also said that the Israelis are “yearning for a very destructive Middle East war that would allow them to finish the ethnic cleansing of Palestine," adding that "now that they have got their man in the White House, it is a very dangerous time.”
Barrett further mentioned that UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the JCPOA, "prohibits Iran from working on missiles that are specifically designed to carry nuclear warheads."
Therefore he said, the reason why no Western governments or intelligence agencies have ever tried "to put forward any argument" about these missiles is that they are not designed to carry nuclear warheads.
The expert also noted it is not even "in US geostrategic interest" to be hostile towards Iran, but the Zionists in Israel are trying to turn Washington against Tehran under the Trump administration.
Barrett went on to say that Trump either has no idea of what he is doing or he has an “insanely evil plan behind him," because he is not only practically threatening war with Iran but also with China and Mexico.
However, he expressed hope that Trump does not plan to stage another 9/11 incident in order to trigger an all-out world war.