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A Royal Navy Admiral - who is a former Sea Lord and hero of the Falkands war - has slammed 'idiots' who want war with Iran, as Trump officials

claim recent actions by the US in the Persian Gulf have deterred attacks on American forces.

It comes after the Spanish Navy pulled one of its warships from a US Navy combat fleet on an unscheduled mission to respond to what the White House has called "escalatory indications and warnings” from Iran. Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt said the UK Armed Forces are "deployed and ready" to face Iran and following reports that Royal Navy Special Forces have already joined a US strike group in the Persian gulf

Now, Admiral Lord West - who was the last man to leave Devonport-based warship HMS Ardent when she was attacked by Argentina on this week in 1982 with the loss of 22 lives - has said it would take one million soldiers to defeat and occupy Iran.

He told Daily Star Online: “The US would need at least one million troops to successfully pacify Iran, and a half-baked attack could throw the region further into chaos.

"If the US and Britain couldn’t beat Iran in a straight bang-on-bang contest they we should all go home.

“But what we can’t do unless we go onto a war footing and having conscription is have a sufficient number of troops to go occupy the country.

“It is such dangerous loose talk, and its all well and good being ‘aren’t we clever, we can shoot down your planes and sink your ships’ – but you haven’t finishing winning the war.

“That what the real problem is and thats what these idiots who are saying lets go to war with Iran don’t understand.

“I don’t think they are clever enough to understand, they know nothing about wars.”

While Admiral West said Iran is a “bloody nuisance” and a “bigger problem” than Iraq in 2003, he told Daily Star Online US politicians are making a mistake in thinking it would a “quick war” like “lancing a boil”. He also said regime change risked destabilising Iran like IRaq - which he described as now being a "a bloody mess” - and that an attack could also destabilise the global economy due to the risk to shipping in the Gulf.

Admiral West's full interview with the Daily Star can be read here.

Top Trump administration officials have told Congress that recent actions by the US in response to the situation in Iran have deterred attacks on American forces.

After a day of closed-door briefings on Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan said their objective over recent days has been to deter Iran and now they want to prevent further escalation.

"We're not about going to war," Mr Shanahan told reporters.

"Our biggest focus at this point is to prevent Iranian miscalculation," said Mr Shanahan, flanked by Mr Pompeo, after back-to-back briefings for the House and Senate.

"We do not want the situation to escalate."

The officials arrived on Capitol Hill as questions mounted over President Donald Trump's tough talk on Iran and sudden policy shifts in the region.

Sceptical Democrats sought out a second opinion, holding their own briefing with former Obama administration officials, former CIA director John Brennan and Wendy Sherman, an architect of the Iran nuclear deal.

The competing closed-door sessions on Tuesday came after weeks of escalating tensions that raised alarms over a possible military confrontation with Iran.

Mr Trump, veering between bombast and conciliation in his quest to contain Iran, threatened on Monday to meet provocations by Iran with "great force", but he also said he was willing to negotiate.

The results of the meetings on Tuesday were mixed, with views settling largely along partisan lines.

Senator Mitt Romney said the action taken by the Trump administration "is totally appropriate" and sends a message that "if you attack our people, there will be a response".

Mr Romney characterised it as defensive in nature and meant to deter Iran from "malign" actions.

Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego, a veteran of the Iraq War, left the classified House briefing, saying: "What I heard in there makes it clear that this administration feels that they do not have to come back and talk to Congress in regards to any action they do in Iran."

Democrats are particularly concerned the Trump administration may try to rely on nearly 20-year-old war authorisations rather than seek fresh approval from Congress for any action.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he told Mr Pompeo and the others their consultation with Congress has been "inadequate".

Mr Shananan said he and the others heard that message and vowed to better communicate with lawmakers and the public.

In recent weeks, the US sent an aircraft carrier strike group, four bomber aircraft and other assets to the region, and is moving a Patriot missile battery to an undisclosed country in the area.

The Trump administration has evacuated non-essential personnel from Iraq, amid unspecified threats the administration says are linked to Iran.

Mr Shanahan said the recent US actions in the region were based on "credible threats" to US forces and interests in the Middle East.

"We have deterred attacks based on our repositioning of assets, deterred attacks against American forces," he said.

Top Democrats say Mr Trump escalated problems by abruptly withdrawing the US from the Iran nuclear deal, a complex accord negotiated during the Obama administration to prevent Iran from nuclear weapons production.

"I have yet to see any exhibited strategy," said Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer.

Representative Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, said, "What I'm interested in more right now is what the administration's strategy is - if they have one - to keep us out of war."

Republicans and Mr Trump's allies in Congress said the threats from Iran are real.

The US military appears to have concluded that Iran was behind the reported attack on May 12 on four commercial vessels off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

A US official said on Monday a probe into the attack was finished and evidence still pointed at Iran, although the official did not provide details.

On Sunday, a rocket landed near the US Embassy in the Green Zone of Iraq's capital of Baghdad, days after non-essential US staff were ordered to evacuate from diplomatic posts in the country. No one was reported injured.

Defence officials said no additional Iranian threats or incidents had emerged in the days since the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier battle group arrived in the Arabian Sea late last week.

Iran, meanwhile, announced that it has quadrupled its uranium-enrichment production capacity.

Officials said it remains set to the limits of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, making it usable for a power plant but far below what is needed for an atomic weapon.

Tehran long has insisted it does not seek nuclear weapons, although the West fears its programme could allow it to build them.

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