Lieutenant General Robert Ashley, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told reporters on Friday, July 19, that Iran was seeking to “break the status quo” by seizing a British tanker, and that it did not want war.

“What you see is an attempt to break the status quo, to divide us with our European powers, to try to get the European powers to come back in to have an economic impact,” said Ashley.

Responding to a question later in the session, Ashley said, “Iran doesn’t want war. China doesn’t want war. Russia doesn’t want war.”

Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, July 19, in a further escalation of rising tensions between it and world powers. Credit: Aspen Security Forum via Storyful