A U.S. Marines helicopter takes off from the flight deck of the USS Boxer during its transit through Strait of Hormuz.
ASPEN, Colo. — As tensions in the Persian Gulf continued to ramp up on Friday afternoon amid news that
Iran had seized a
British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Army Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, concluded that Iran does not want to start a war with the U.S. or its allies.
Answering a question posed by
CNN national security correspondent Jim Sciutto in Aspen, Colo., about the latest incident, Ashley declined to give a specific response to the news, but later said that none of the United States’ major adversaries or competitors, including Iran,
China and
Russia, wants to start a war.