The United States aims to avoid war with Iran, Mike Pompeo says

The United States aims to avoid war with Iran and the additional troops ordered to be deployed in the Gulf region are for “deterrence and defense,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday.

Speaking to Fox News Sunday, Pompeo said he was confident U.S. President Donald Trump would take action if such deterrence measures fail and that this was well understood by the Iranian leadership.

“Our mission set is to avoid war,” Pompeo said. “You saw what Secretary Esper announced on Friday, we are putting additional forces in the region for the purpose of deterrence and defense. If that deterrence should continue to fail, I am also confident that President Trump would continue to take the actions that are necessary,” he said.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have further escalated after an attack last weekend on Saudi oil facilities that initially disrupted half of the oil production from the kingdom, the world’s largest oil exporter, and was blamed on Tehran by the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Pentagon said it was sending U.S. troops to bolster Saudi Arabia’s air and missile defenses. U.S. imposed more sanctions on Iran.

Iran denied involvement in the attack.