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Ayatollah Khamenei Warns of Using "Military Tools" to Beat the U.S.
(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Farzin Nadimi - The increasing momentum of the U.S. "maximum pressure" policy has prompted Iran to react more aggressively of late. In a May 29 speech, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared that the "only way" to gain strategic leverage over America is to beat Washington at its own game of pressure - not through negotiations but rather through "our own tools of leverage," including "military tools." He promised to use more such tools if the regime's recent threat to resume certain nuclear activities did not yield the desired result of easing sanctions and helping Iran's economy. Given such rhetoric, it is difficult to view the latest attacks as anything but the regime doing just what Khamenei said it would. The Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous was sailing from the Saudi port of Jubail to Singapore with a cargo of methanol when it was hit by a sabotage attack. The Kokuka Courageous is a chemical tanker clearly marked to carry products that pose severe environmental and safety hazards. A premeditated attack against such a vessel shows complete disregard for the significant environmental and human damage that spilling such products could cause. The writer is an associate fellow with The Washington Institute.