Below, you are provided with an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Bill Jones, in terms of the US and its Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel visiting Bahrain and any questions on whether the US is going to pull back its forces, I guess that would be just out of the question given the fact that the US has sold so much military equipment in the billions of dollars to the countries of the Persian Gulf.

But is this a possibility that perhaps in the future the US would do something to that effect, given the fact that both US and Iran have had this rapprochement between themselves?

Jones: Well, anything is possible depending on how things go on the diplomatic track.

Hagel has two goals, I think, in the Middle East with the statements.

One is of course to ensure our so-called allies including Saudi Arabia, who has accepted the fact of the steps forward in US-Iran relations but they are not terribly happy about it and are doing other things probably to try to undermine it. So, it wants to send a signal to them, to assure them that the United States is not going away and perhaps also to prevent them from taking any unilateral measures that they would not take, in terms of their buildup or a military action if they felt that the United States was on its way out.

Secondly, however, it also wants to send a message to Iran that the initial phases of the negotiations are moving forward but it has not reached the point where the United States feels that a much smaller force than what is available at this point would be needed and therefore they would be able to draw back on that. That might come but we are not there yet.

Press TV: And I made a reference there, Bill Jones, to the high figures of the sales that the US has actually sold to some of these countries in the Persian Gulf. Is that a way for the US to therefore make it known that it is indeed pulling out of the region based on the pivot that they announced last year, to stock up these countries with military equipment as if Iran would have been a threat at that point in time, given, of course, the recent developments that is not going that way?

Jones: Well, that certainly is an indication, it is one of the aspects of the arms sales.

They could very well be creating something of a Frankenstein monster since they do not really control entirely the policies of these nations and they may do something with the help of the United States’ arms that the United States will not be in favor of. But it has been the policy of the US and perhaps there is more emphasis on this at this point because of the restrictions on the US military spending that they feel that their allies, so-called allies, in the region would therefore be geared up somewhat if the United States has found the necessity of gearing down in its own military spending.

But it could be also something they will regret going forward as we do not have agreements in terms of our policy with regard to the Syrian rebels and things like that and these arms could be used against US, explicit US interests as well.

MY/HJL