Iran is willing to “expend every Arab life” in its efforts to end Western influence in the Middle East and destroy Israel, a former US national security adviser has said.
HR McMaster, who held the position between 2017 and 2018 during the Trump presidency, told Sky News that there is still a risk of escalation between Iran and Israel after the two nations carried out attacks on each other in April.
Iran said its attack on Saturday 13 April was a retaliation after two of its generals were killed in a strike Tehran blames on Israel.
Israel responded to the Iranian attack by carrying out a strike on Isfahan – home to both a military base and nuclear site in Iran.
Asked whether there could be further escalation between the two regional rivals, Mr McMaster said: “Iran is pursuing a strategy in which they hope we continue to pretend like we don’t understand what the return address is for all this violence.
“And in a horrible, cynical way, Iran is willing to expend every Arab life, if necessary, to accomplish its objectives of pushing the United States, the United Kingdom and and our allies out of the region as the first step in establishing hegemonic power in the region and destroying Israel.
“That’s really what they want to do. And I think the longer that we act as if we don’t know the return address is, Iran is going to continue to escalate these these horrible actions to create horrible human suffering not only on the part of the Israelis, but on the part of the Palestinians too.”
Mr McMaster also said that the reduction in capacity of the UK’s armed forces “broke my heart” as military sources and Cold War veterans have warned Britain is increasingly vulnerable to the threat of missiles and drones after decades of cost-saving cuts.
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