US-Iran tensions building up to some sort of crescendo: Expert

James Jatras, a former Senate foreign policy adviser in Washington
A former American Senate foreign policy analyst says that US-Iran tensions are “building up to some sort of crescendo,” but he hopes that the Trump administration will not make any stupid move.

James Jatras, a former Senate foreign policy adviser in Washington, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday while commenting on the Pentagon’s deployment of a pair of B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf, just weeks before US President Donald Trump is due to leave office.

The nuclear-capable bombers flew nonstop from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and headed home after a show of force over the western side of the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

Announcing the deployment, the head of US Central Command said Wednesday that it was to show that “we are ready and able to respond to any aggression directed at Americans or our interests.”

US flies two nuclear-capable B-52 bombers over Persian Gulf again in threat to Iran

The US deploys a pair of B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf for the second time this month in another military threat against Iran.

“It looks now almost certain that Donald Trump will have to leave office in about three weeks. And there is a real concern in a number of quarters that there may be some kind of push for him to do something militarily against Iran before he leaves office,” Jatras told Press TV.

“It is hard to see what possible benefit that can be to him, much less to the United States when we look for example these demonstrative flights of B-52s towards Iran, the threats against Iran that ‘any action against American forces in Iraq, we will hold Iran responsible for those and then we will see an attack on American forces there,’” he added.       

“Now this is extremely worrisome that this is building up to some sort of crescendo. I hope that is not the case, and this is not designed for some petty political move against the incoming Biden administration, which frankly I don’t expect much good from either,” he stated.    

“I really don’t know if the US is going to attack Iran in the coming days or not. I hope not but it certainly cannot be excluded. My thought is probably not. I cannot believe that even these people are reckless and stupid but one really does not know what this crowd wants,” the analyst concluded.