This comes amid mounting US-Iranian tensions which exacerbated on 8 May, when Tehran announced that it would suspend some of its obligations under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The move was followed by new anti-Iranian sanctions and the deployment of a US aircraft strike group to the Gulf to address what Washington sees as a threat from Tehran.
In a letter to Donald Trump seen by Foreign Policy magazine, a group of Democratic lawmakers along with independent Senator Bernie Sanders, berated the US president for leading Washington along a “path to another war in the Middle East”.
The document, which was also signed by Senators Chris Van Hollen, Ed Markey, and Jeff Merkley, described the Trump administration's Iran strategy as “increasingly inconsistent and counterproductive”.
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The letter voiced alarm that the strategy's assessments of threats allegedly emanating from Iran “fit into a larger pattern of inflating threats and bending intelligence to justify dangerous, predetermined policies.”
The lawmakers asked Trump to respond to their message by 15 June, urging him to clarify his Iran policy, including on issues pertaining to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The letter comes after the US president told acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Thursday that…
