PARIS — The United States does not want a full-blown war with Iran, although it still is seeking to build up international defenses in the region just in case of a conflict, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the country said Thursday.
The big question is whether other countries are ready to join with Washington. So far, Europe is favoring diplomacy instead.
Iran is poised to surpass a key uranium stockpile threshold, threatening an accord it reached in 2015 with world powers aimed at curbing its nuclear activity. Tehran made no immediate announcement Thursday that it had done so, perhaps waiting to hear what Europe can offer at a meeting Friday to keep the deal alive.
French President Emmanuel Macron is trying to dial back tensions, saying he hopes to convince Trump to open talks with Iran and avoid a war that would engulf the Middle East. The two men are to meet Friday at a Group of 20 summit in Japan.
“There is no brief war,” Macron warned. “We know when it’s starting, but not when it’s finishing.”
Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook met with top European diplomats Thursday in Paris, and he told The Associated Press that he wants to get tougher on Iran, instead of clinging to the nuclear deal that the U.S. pulled out of last year. War with Iran is “not necessary,” Hook said in an interview.
“We are not looking for any conflict in the region,” he said. But if the U.S. is attacked, “we will respond with military force.”
To that end, the U.S. is trying to drum up support for an international naval force in Persian Gulf, notably to protect shipping.
“The president would like to see an international response of like-minded countries who could come together and contribute assets that could be used to enhance maritime security in the region,” Hook said.
But acting U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, at his first NATO meeting this week, left Brussels with no firm commitments after discussing the idea with U.S. allies.
Tensions have been rising in the Middle East after the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran to cripple its economy. Citing unspecified Iranian threats, the U.S. has sent an aircraft carrier to the region and deployed additional troops alongside the tens of thousands already there.
The U.S. has been worried about international shipping through the Strait of Hormuz since tankers were damaged in May and June in what Washington has blamed on limpet mines from Iran, although Tehran denies any involvement. Last week, Iran shot down a U.S. Navy surveillance drone, saying it violated its territory; Washington said it was in international airspace.
Iran recently quadrupled its production of low-enriched uranium as it slowly steps away from the nuclear deal. Even though Trump pulled the U.S. out of it, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China are still part of the pact.
Iran has said it would surpass a 300-kilogram stockpile limit set by the accord by Thursday. Tehran made no statements about it, possibly because it was a holiday weekend in the country, but also because it could be waiting for the outcome of a key meeting Friday in Vienna by European officials on the nuclear deal.
An Iranian official in Vienna said the country was 2.8 kilograms below that limit Wednesday, and there will be no new assessment until “after the weekend.”
Even if it surpasses that limit, “we are not breaching the deal,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions involving the deal.
The official insisted Iran wants to “save the deal” and urged Europeans to start buying Iranian oil or give Iran a credit line to keep the accord alive.
