IRNA - Former US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday sharply criticized tough talk on Iran from senior Trump administration officials determined to ouster regime-backed forces from Syria.


�I don't know what our foreign policy objective is in the Middle East or almost anywhere else,� says former defense secretary at Defense One interview.

�The U.S. doesn�t even control half of Syria. You�ve got 2,000 [U.S.] troops up in the northeast corner. I mean, come on, you�re not going to drive Iranians out of Syria with 2,000 American troops,� Hagel said in an interview with Defense One. �It�s complete folly to think you�re going to threaten the Syrians or the Russians or the Iranians into anything.

�The Iranians live there,� he continued. �The U.S. doesn�t live in the Middle East. Unless you�re going to somehow eliminate the geopolitical realities of that�well, good luck Mr. Bolton. There is no other way around this, you�re going to have to find some resolution based on the common interests of those countries.�

Hagel�s criticism comes at a moment of intense scrutiny of the Trump administration�s strategy to box in Tehran, an objective that officials have made a cornerstone of the president�s foreign policy in the region.

�This is not the Obama administration, would be my message to Iran and anybody else,� Bolton told reporters at the White House later on Thursday while rolling out the Trump administration�s new counterterrorism strategy, which makes Iran a focus.�

Hagel scoffed at the notion that the presence of 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria would be sufficient to ensure the departure of the thousands of Iran-backed fighters and proxy militia leaders operating in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad�s regime.

�You tell me what the foreign policy objective is to using 2,000 American troops stationed in Syria and then I�ll give you an answer. I don�t know what our foreign policy objective is in the Middle East or almost anywhere else,� Hagel said.

�How do you accomplish some stability in Syria?�You�re not going to do that without the Russians, without the Iranians, without the other players in the country, in the region.�

Hagel argued the administration�s recent decision to remove four Patriot missile batteries from key (Persian) Gulf allies, did not square with the Trump administration�s tough-on-Iran rhetoric..

If constraining Iranian influence is the goal, Hagel said, �how do you think you�re going to have more leverage against Iran by pulling Patriot batteries out of countries, and not paying attention to some of these areas, but [instead] just making these bullying speeches about, �We�re gonna sanction you�?�

�This is my point about the confusion. Where are we? What is our policy?�

So far, Trump�s overt pressure on Iran has taken place primarily in the diplomatic and financial sphere.


Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of U.S. Central Command, told reporters on Thursday that the military�s presence in Syria has �an impact� on Iranian activities but that CENTCOM had not been given a new mission.

�I don�t think we�re seeking to go to war with Iran,� he said. �I think the president has made it clear that Iran needs to cease its destabilizing behavior and policies that spread violence and human misery throughout the Middle East.�