Exclusive-Top U.S. general makes unannounced Middle East trip as Iran threat looms

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Exclusive-Top U.S. general makes unannounced Middle East trip as Iran threat looms

By Phil Stewart

AMMAN (Reuters) – The top U.S. general began an unannounced visit to the Middle East on Saturday to discuss ways to avoid any new escalation in tensions that could spiral into a broader conflict, as the region braces for a threatened Iranian ******* against *******.

Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the ****** Chiefs of Staff, began his trip in Jordan and said he will also travel to Egypt and ******* in the coming days to hear the perspectives of military leaders.

His visit comes as the ******* States is trying to clinch an elusive Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal between ******* and ************ militant group ******, which Brown said would “help bring down the temperature,” if achieved.

“At the same time, as I talk to my counterparts, what are the things we can do to deter any type of broader escalation and ensure we’re taking all the appropriate steps to (avoid) … a broader conflict,” Brown told Reuters before landing in Jordan.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has been seeking to limit the fallout from the war in Gaza between ****** and *******, now in its 11th month. The conflict has leveled huge swathes of Gaza, triggered border clashes between ******* and Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement and sparked attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on Red Sea shipping.

Meanwhile, U.S. troops have been attacked by Iran-aligned militia in Syria, Iraq and Jordan. In recent weeks, the U.S. military has been bolstering its forces in the Middle East to guard against major new attacks by Iran or its allies, sending the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group into the region to replace the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group.

The ******* States has also sent an Air Force F-22 Raptor squadron into the region and deployed a cruise missile submarine.

“We brought in additional capability to send a strong message to deter a broader conflict … but also to protect our forces should they be attacked,” Brown said, saying safeguarding ********* forces was “paramount.”

IRANIAN RESPONSE

Iran has vowed a severe response to the ******** of ****** leader Ismail Haniyeh, which took place as he visited Tehran late last month and which it blamed on *******. ******* has neither confirmed or denied its involvement.

Hezbollah has also threatened a response after ******* ******* a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut last month.

Iran has not publicly indicated what would be the target of an eventual response to the Haniyeh ************** but U.S. officials say they are closely monitoring for any signs that Iran will make good on its threats.

“We stay postured, watching the (intelligence) and force movements,” Brown said. On Friday, Iran’s new Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told his French and British counterparts in telephone conversations that it was his country’s right to retaliate, according to the official IRNA news agency.

On April 13, two weeks after two Iranian generals were ******* in a strike on Tehran’s embassy in Syria, Iran unleashed a barrage of hundreds of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles towards *******, damaging two air bases. *******, the ******* States and other allies managed to ******** almost all of the weapons before they reached their targets.

Brown did not speculate about what Iran and its allies might do but said he hoped to discuss different scenarios with his ******** counterpart.

“Particularly, as I engage with my ******** counterpart, how they might respond, depending on the response that comes from Hezbollah or from Iran,” Brown said.

The current war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7, 2023, when ****** gunmen stormed into ******** communities, ******** around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to ******** tallies.

Since then, *******’s military campaign has driven nearly all of the ************ enclave’s 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and ******** and ******** at least 40,000 people, according to ************ health authorities.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; editing by Giles Elgood)

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