During an interview with ABC on Tuesday, Pentagon Spokeswoman Sabrina Singh acknowledged that due to Iran’s continued equipping, training, and funding of proxy groups that have attacked American troops, “we feel confident that these Iran proxy groups are going to continue their efforts against our troops,” and that’s “why we are sending a clear message of deterrence to Iran, to other actors in the region who might think to widen this conflict, they should really think again.”
Singh said, “Look, we are very concerned about escalating attacks from Iran proxy groups in the region. And that’s why you saw the secretary take the step that he did to bolster deterrence in the region. Right now, we have two carriers — or I should say, we have one carrier in the region and one carrier strike group that’s making its way to the region. But we’ve increased our force posture already by sending air squadrons there as well. And so, we are really sending a message to actors who might want to see this conflict expand into a regional war, don’t. We are trying to send that clear message almost every day from here at the podium or across this administration to those who would want to take advantage, and that’s why the secretary did make the decisions that he did and that’s why we also have Gen. Glynn…on the ground working and advising the IDF on any of their operations going forward.”
She added, “We know that Iran continues to equip, train, and continues to fund these groups all in the region that have launched attacks on our servicemembers in Iraq and Syria. And so, because of that, we feel confident that these Iran proxy groups are going to continue their efforts against our troops, which is why we are sending a clear message of deterrence to Iran, to other actors in the region who might think to widen this conflict, they should really think again.”
Singh further stated, “I can’t predict the future here, but we’ve certainly seen an uptick [in] attacks against U.S. forces in both Iraq and Syria. Iran clearly, again, has trained, equipped, funds these groups. And so, we are trying, as publicly and privately as we can, to continue to urge Iran to stay out of this conflict, to stop attacking our U.S. forces that are on the ground in Iraq and Syria whose sole mission is the enduring defeat of ISIS.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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