--- title: Iran Foreign Minister: U.S. Troops in the Middle East Are Threat to Peace description: Iran’s foreign minister said an order by the U.S. president to send 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East was “extremely dangerous”. canonical: https://time.com/5596090/troops-middle-east-peace-threat-iran/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-05-25T19:32:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:36:21.738Z article:section: World og:title: U.S. Troop Buildup in the Middle East Is a Threat to Peace, Iran's Foreign Minister Says og:description: “Increased U.S. presence in our region is extremely dangerous," Javad Zarif said og:url: https://time.com/5596090/troops-middle-east-peace-threat-iran/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3f48f947ae600b0/69894a6e16d884bbb0c3526d/troops-middle-east-peace-threat-iran.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gesturing during a press conference in Tehran on February 13, 2019. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.S. Troop Buildup in the Middle East Is a Threat to Peace, Iran's Foreign Minister Says twitter:description: “Increased U.S. presence in our region is extremely dangerous," Javad Zarif said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3f48f947ae600b0/69894a6e16d884bbb0c3526d/troops-middle-east-peace-threat-iran.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # U.S. Troop Buildup in the Middle East Is a Threat to Peace, Iran's Foreign Minister Says by [Golnar Motevalli / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Golnar Motevalli / Bloomberg May 25, 2019 7:32 PM CUT  Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gesturing during a press conference in Tehran on February 13, 2019\. Zarif said an order by the U.S. president to send 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East was “extremely dangerous”. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gesturing during a press conference in Tehran on February 13, 2019\. Zarif said an order by the U.S. president to send 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East was “extremely dangerous”.Atta Kenare—AFP/Getty Images by [Golnar Motevalli / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Golnar Motevalli / Bloomberg May 25, 2019 7:32 PM CUT Iran’s foreign minister said an order by the U.S. president to send 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East was “extremely dangerous” and threatening to international peace and security. “Increased U.S. presence in our region is extremely dangerous and a threat against international peace and security and it must be addressed,” Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was cited as saying by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. Zarif made the comments after U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed the military deployment and Pentagon officials said they believed that Iran was behind a number of recent attacks on oil tankers, a Saudi pipeline and the diplomatic quarter of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. “The Americans make such allegations in order to justify increasing tensions in the Persian Gulf and to justify their hostile policies,” Zarif said, in reference to the Pentagon’s claims. He made the comments as he departed Pakistan. Tensions between Iran and the U.S. have escalated dramatically over the past months after the White House vowed to force Iran’s oil exports down to zero and revoked a series of key sanctions waivers for the OPEC-member’s crude sales and its civilian nuclear program. In response, Iran has said it will scale back some of its commitments under the 2015 nuclear accord and set a deadline to start its own gradual withdrawal from the deal unless Europe can guarantee it can function and survive. Earlier on Saturday, an adviser to the Guards, General Morteza Qorbani, was quoted by semi-official Mizan Online news saying Iran could sink a U.S. aircraft carrier with “new weapons” at the “slightest” provocation by the vessel. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5596090/troops-middle-east-peace-threat-iran/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5596090/troops-middle-east-peace-threat-iran/"},"headline":"U.S. Troop Buildup in the Middle East Is a Threat to Peace, Iran's Foreign Minister Says","datePublished":"2019-05-25T19:32:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:36:21.738Z","description":"“Increased U.S. presence in our region is extremely dangerous,\" Javad Zarif said","url":"https://time.com/5596090/troops-middle-east-peace-threat-iran/","keywords":["Iran","Military","Bloomberg","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3f48f947ae600b0/69894a6e16d884bbb0c3526d/troops-middle-east-peace-threat-iran.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Golnar Motevalli / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3f48f947ae600b0/69894a6e16d884bbb0c3526d/troops-middle-east-peace-threat-iran.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gesturing during a press conference in Tehran on February 13, 2019.","caption":"Iran’s foreign minister said an order by the U.S. president to send 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East was “extremely dangerous”.","creditText":"Atta Kenare—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/iran/","name":"Iran"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5596090/troops-middle-east-peace-threat-iran/","name":"U.S. Troop Buildup in the Middle East Is a Threat to Peace, Iran's Foreign Minister Says"}}]}] ```