Bolton pick indicates 'more confrontational stance with Iran': Analyst

The appointment of John Bolton as US national security adviser indicates that the Donald Trump administration plans to escalate hostilities towards Iran, says an analyst.

“John Bolton has for years, even for decades, been a proponent of not only a confrontational stance with Iran but even of invading Iran,” Keith Preston, director of AttacktheSystem.com said in an interview. “Bolton has publicly advocated war against Iran.”

President Trump announced Gen. H.R. McMaster's replacement on Thursday, making Bolton -- a former US ambassador to the United Nations -- his third national security adviser, part of a shake-up that creates one of the most hawkish national security teams of any White House in recent history.

“Bolton is associated with the American neo-conservative movement… which advocates very aggressive imperialist approach to really the entire world but in particular in the Middle East,” Preston told Press TV.

“These were the people who were the primary architects of the war in Iraq and other disasters like that that have happened in the past,” the analyst said.

Shortly before the US and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003, Bolton reportedly told Israeli officials that once Saddam Hussein was removed, it would be necessary to deal with Syria, Iran and North Korea.

Foreign policy experts say Bolton is likely to encourage President Trump toward military confrontation with Iran.

Bolton has also called on Washington to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic, even though UN inspectors have repeatedly verified Iran’s compliance with the accord.

PressTV-'John Bolton a threat to US national security'

A known hawk who does not believe in diplomacy, John Bolton will pose a threat to national security as Trump's top adviser, analysts say.

“There’s been far too much debate over whether #Iran is in violation of the #NuclearDeal. The point is that this was a bad deal to begin with and it’s a bad deal now and it should be torn up,” Bolton tweeted in January.

The Politico magazine revealed in November 2016 that Bolton, along with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who were then on Trump’s shortlist for key posts, accepted money from notorious Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) and lobbied for the anti-Iran organization’s removal from the US list of terrorist groups.

According to the report, Bolton "recently boasted before a MKO crowd in Paris that he had been engaged with them for a decade.” 

“This is a terrorist organization that is anti-Iranian and wishes to overturn the current Iranian government,” Preston said.

PressTV-Trump's top picks for key posts backed MKO

Donald Trump's top nominees for national security posts had lobbied on behalf of the anti-Iran terror group.

“The Americans have provided support to MKO and other similar groups for that reason,” he noted. “The United States' foreign policy establishment has no problem with terrorism as long as they can use terrorism to advance the geopolitical objective they want to achieve.”

“And one of these geopolitical objectives is to overturn the independent governments in the Middle East that are not willing to accept direction from Washington,” Preston added.

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