Iran says there will be no war with US despite tensions

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday that his country would not go to war with the United States despite increased tension.

“There won’t be any war. The Iranian nation has chosen the path of resistance,” he said, according to Reuters. 

He said, however, that he also would not work with the U.S. on a nuclear agreement, Reuters reported, citing state media. {mosads}

The U.S. in 2018 pulled out of a nuclear deal with Iran that lessened sanctions in the country in exchange for limits to Iran’s nuclear program. In recent weeks, there has been increased friction between the two countries. 

National security adviser John Bolton this month announced that the U.S. would send a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East. Officials justified this by citing a “credible threat” from Iran, but did not say what the threat was. President Trump on Tuesday denied a report that his administration was considering deploying 120,000 troops to the Middle East, but said that if sending troops became necessary “we’d send a hell of a lot more troops than that.”

A White House official also said last week that the administration would impose new sanctions on Iran “very soon.”