Top US military general urges Israel to pressure Iran
The United States Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Miller, has visited Israel to discuss the need to pressure Iran.
The General made the visit on Saturday July 24, 2020, following a series of events which have raised fears of a new adventurism by the two regimes.
Miller met with senior Israeli military and intelligence leaders at an air base south of the occupied territories and discussed "regional security challenges.”
During the visit, the US General held a video conference with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
While receiving the General, Israeli Minister of Military Affairs, Benny Gantz, emphasized the need to continue the pressure on Iran, claiming that regime’s military "is prepared and ready for any scenario and any threat.
The visit came a day after US warplanes operating illegally in Syria harassed an Iranian Beirut-bound passenger plane over Syrian airspace, which forced the Mahan Air flight to lower altitude to avoid collision.
Captain Bill Urban, spokesman for the US Central Command (CENTCOM), said that a single F-15 had made what is called a “standard visual inspection” of the Iranian airliner at “a safe distance of approximately 1,000 meters.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi dismissed the claim as "ridiculous,” saying the “illegal and dangerous” US maneuver amounted to playing with the lives of innocent people.
"The presence of American forces in Syria is illegal, and the air missions of their jet fighters are also illegal.
"More importantly, no one has allowed the United States to inspect passenger planes over the skies with its military jets,” he added.
Mousavi also warned against any new adventurism by the US or the occupying regime of Israel in the region, noting that "stability and security in the West Asian region should not be used as a toy in the US election campaign”.