Iran is willing to “spend all Arab lives” 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 role from 2017 to 2018 during Trump’s presidency, told Sky News there was still a risk of escalation between Will It is Israel after the two nations carried out attacks on each other in April.
Iran said its attack on Saturday, April 13, was in retaliation after two of its generals were killed in an attack that Tehran blames on Israel.
Israel responded to the Iranian attack by carrying out an attack on Isfahan – home to a military base and a nuclear facility in Iran.
Asked whether there could be further escalation between the two regional rivals, McMaster said: “Iran is following a strategy in which they expect us to continue to pretend that we don’t understand what the response address is to all this violence.
“And in a horrible and cynical way, Iran is willing to spend all Arab lives, if necessary, to fulfill its goals of expelling the United States, the United Kingdom and our allies from the region as the first step in establishing a hegemonic power in the region and destroying Israel.
“That’s really what they want to do. And I think the more we act like we don’t know the return address, Iran will continue to escalate these horrible actions to create horrible human suffering, not just on the part of the Israelis, but also the part of the Palestinians.”
Mr McMaster also said that the reduction in the capacity of the UK armed forces “It breaks my heart” as military sources and Cold War veterans warn that Britain is increasingly vulnerable to the threat of missiles and drones after decades of cost-cutting.
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