US warns Iran would 'suffer consequences' for making 'gross misjudgment'
The United States has warned Iran that they would suffer the consequences if they make "a gross misjudgment" of American will on preventing a nuclear-armed Tehran.
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey said that while Iran operates on its own internal logic, that doesn't mean Iranian leaders would be reasonable.
Dempsey was responding to the criticism of his previous statement made during a recent hearing at the Congress, where he said that the Iranian regime was "rational," Xinhua reports.
"Rational meant to me that there is an evident pattern of behavior that this regime has followed since the Islamic Revolution that, first and foremost, expresses their intention to remain in power and to preserve the regime," Dempsey said.
"Based on that, there are some things that we know they will respond to. That's a rational actor," he added.
Dempsey cited former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was toppled by the US invasion in 2003, as an example.
"Saddam, also 'a rational actor,' acted with his own logic and made a gross misjudgment of American will," he said.
"The Iranians may find themselves in the same boat, and "they could get it wrong and suffer the consequences," he added.
According to the report Dempsey also downplayed the differences between the US and Israel, which regards a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat, on dealing with Iranian nuclear crisis.
"The two sides disagree only ' in terms of time' rather than 'in terms of intent'," he said.
Source: Middle East News.Net
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