Although Defense Secretary James Mattis once said that the three gravest threats to the U. S. were “Iran, Iran, Iran,” he recently suggested that North Korea now holds the top spot.
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary James Mattis, when he led the U. S. Central Command that oversees operations in the Middle East, repeatedly said that the three gravest threats to the United States were “ Iran, Iran, Iran.”
But at a press conference in London on Friday, the retired Marine general suggested that North Korea, with its ballistic missile and nuclear programs, now holds the top spot.
Asked about his previous focus on Iran as the most serious threat, Mattis called Iran “the primary state sponsor of terrorism” but pivoted quickly to the secretive Stalinist regime in Pyongyang.
“In the larger scheme of things, obviously, in a global situation that’s dynamic, you’ve highlighted appropriately I think the North Korean threat,” Mattis said (the reporter had not mentioned North Korea).
Mattis noted that the United States was working at the United Nations and with allies and partners “including with those that we might be able to enlist in this effort to get North Korea under control” — a clear reference to the country’s patron, China.
“But right now, it [North Korea] appears to be going in a very reckless manner,” Mattis said, “and that’s got to be stopped.”
The issue is sure to be near the top of the agenda when President Trump hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping at his private Mar-a-Lago resort next week.
