The biggest destabilizer

The US Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis said yesterday that Iran would be “held accountable” for its reckless behaviour in the region. He was speaking as a string of senior American officials offered fresh warnings about Tehran’s aggressive foreign policy and the effect it has on destabilising the Middle East.

Mattis said that Iran had been “put on notice” that its “continued mischief ” in the region — including its support for Houthi rebels in Yemen and supplying of missiles fired into Saudi Arabia, as well as threats to the Strait of Hormuz — would not be tolerated by the US and its allies.

The Defence Secretary went on to say that Iran was the “single biggest destabilising element in the Middle East region.” In Washington, Brian Hook, the Trump administration’s newly appointed special representative for Iran, said Tehran’s policy of destabilising its neighbours come at the expense of the Iranian people.