US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster warned the international community that the time has come to act against Iranian proxies in the Middle East.
“What’s particularly concerning is that this network of proxies is becoming more and more capable, as Iran seeds more and more… destructive weapons into these networks,” McMaster said at the Munich Security Conference, according to Reuters.
Sounding the alarm on the urgency of halting Iranian efforts across the region, McMaster said, “So the time is now, we think, to act against Iran.”
McMaster accused Iran of planning to use “Hezbollah-style” proxy armies in Iraq and Syria to weaken and destabilize regional Arab governments.
He criticized the international community’s 2015 nuclear accord signed by Iran, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, China, Germany, and the European Union, saying the world should address “serious flaws in the Iran deal and counter Iran’s destabilizing activities, including its development and proliferation of missiles.” McMaster singled out German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and South Korean investments as helping to fund Iran’s missile program and terror activities in the Middle East.
“As a matter of international security and moral conscience we must stop doing business with [Revolutionary Guard Corps] affiliated interests, encourage the development of a true commercial sector in Iran and pressure the regime to respect the rights of its people,” McMaster said.
He also railed against the Syrian regime of dictator Bashar Assad, accusing him of using chemical weapons against his own people, and demanding that the international community hold him accountable.
In Lebanon, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this past week accused Hezbollah of threatening to destabilize the Middle East and called on it to end activities in Syria.