The Iranian military apologized Friday for shooting down a commercial airliner bound for Ukraine, and blamed “human error” for launching the missile that took down the airplane, according to Iranian state media.
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The predicted has happened in Iran and more quickly than had been expected. On the evening of the day on which the Iranian authorities managed to bungle the funeral of their late terrorist chief, Qasem Soleimani, at least 50 people were trampled to death in their grief, and the crisis over the supposed escalation of hostilities subsided. (At least, unlike during the funeral of the Iranian theocracy’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the coffin did not fly open, spilling the corpse on the mourners.)
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WASHINGTON – The U.S. placed more sanctions on Iran Friday in response to its missile attack on U.S. military troops in Iraq last week, and it threatened further action to weaken Iran’s economy if Tehran continues to carry out what it considers terrorist actions.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) said she feels “ill” and “stricken with PTSD” in response to the conflict with Iran before she laughed and joked with her peers while a colleague discussed U.S. casualties in Iraq just moments later.
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For the Democrats, the killing of Iranian terrorist General Qassem Soleimani offered a great opportunity to tout the risk of having Donald Trump as commander in chief, and they were, as usual, extremely disciplined in maintaining that narrative.
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Tensions between the United States and Iran seem to be deescalating again, but the countries clearly are still at loggerheads.
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WHITE HOUSE – U.S. President Donald Trump is publicly voicing suspicion that Iran may have accidentally shot down a Ukrainian airliner.
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“The American people support the Jewish community, and we support Israel,” U.S. Senate candidate Bill Hagerty wrote in an op-ed Thursday for The Times of Israel but also called for a two-state solution.
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Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose notified all of Ohio’s 88 county boards of elections to be aware of potential Iranian cyber threats.
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The Iraqi Consulate General in Detroit held a memorial event for Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, the leader of a designated terrorist organization who was killed last week in a U.S. airstrike.
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President Trump made it abundantly clear in his address to the nation Wednesday morning that Iran’s free reign of terror throughout the Middle East was over, but the United States would not be retaliating militarily against the Islamic Republic following their missile strikes on two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops.
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PENTAGON – Iran has fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles into at least two Iraqi air bases that house U.S. troops, the Pentagon says.
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The Democrats have stumbled into yet another beartrap in their unanimous objection to President Trump’s order to kill the world’s leading terrorist, Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. The same misdirected solicitude that caused the Washington Post to describe ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, after he was driven to suicide by U.S. special operators, as an “austere cleric” has elevated Soleimani to the status of an Iranian General MacArthur.
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Twitter is refusing to pull down a President Donald Trump’s tweet threatening future strikes against Iran despite calls from an Obama-era official to do something about the president’s account.
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President Donald Trump is threatening to hit Iranian cultural sites if Iran retaliates for last week’s assassination of its top general Qassem Soleimani.
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A former CIA analyst and cyber disinformation researcher said people are sharing satirical content suggesting Democrats are calling for the American flag to be at half-mast for Gen. Qasem Soleimani “like it’s legit.”
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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said on Monday that U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) will be leading the bid to restrict President Trump’s power in Iran, several days after an airstrike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) introduced a War Powers Resolution Sunday to prevent the use of U.S. military force against Iran without congressional approval.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday staunchly defended the drone attack that killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, but refused to publicly offer any evidence supporting the American claim that he posed an imminent threat to U.S. forces and officials in the Mideast.
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Does the U.S. armed forces’ killing of Qassem Soleimani, leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ foreign wing, and his subordinate, Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, outside Baghdad’s airport increase or decrease the chances of war with Iran? Does it mean a continuation of our disastrous endless wars?
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During a live recording on Friday’s Battleground State Report with Michael Patrick Leahy and Doug Kellett – a one-hour radio show from Star News Digital Media in the early stages of national weekend syndication rollout – with Kellett out of the studio, Leahy welcomed Tennessee Star Report’s all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the show.
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Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force, was planning “imminent attacks” that could have killed hundreds of Americans prior to being killed in an airstrike near Baghdad’s airport Friday, a senior U.S. official said.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) said she was “outraged” with President Donald Trump for his decision to “assassinate” Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, a designated terrorist organization.
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Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13) attacked President Donald Trump as a “lawless president” after he ordered an airstrike that took out Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, a designated terrorist organization.
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Iranian-backed paramilitary groups protesting U.S. air strikes in Iraq withdrew from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday after a second day of protests, even as Tehran and Washington traded threats.
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An Iran-backed militia threatened revenge Monday in response to U.S. airstrikes against its positions in Iraq and Syria, which killed at least 25 people.
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WASHINGTON – A senior U.S. official said Thursday Iranian forces may have killed more than 1,000 people in response to protests that were sparked by the government’s sudden and dramatic increase in fuel prices.
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Iranian hackers attempted to hack President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, The New York Times reported Friday afternoon, citing sources who are familiar with the matter but who cannot comment publicly.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the U.S. is working to find a diplomatic outcome to tensions with Iran, which has been blamed for an attack on Saudi oil facilities, but he warned if diplomacy fails President Donald Trump “will make necessary decisions to achieve our objectives.”
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WASHINGTON – The U.S. is sending additional military forces and air defense equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Pentagon said Friday night.
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What should President Trump do in response to the surprise attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure?
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is “substantially” increasing economic sanctions against Iran in the wake of last weekend’s missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields that Washington says were launched by Tehran.
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The U.S. government said Friday that it had a warrant to seize an Iranian supertanker caught in a diplomatic standoff off the coast of the British overseas territory Gibraltar.
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by Jamie Dettmer British officials are drawing up plans to target Iran with sanctions for its seizing of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait off Hormuz, and it may urge European Union countries to reimpose sanctions that were lifted in 2016 as part of Tehran’s agreement to curb its nuclear program. The British government is under strong pressure from lawmakers to act decisively in the sharply escalating diplomatic quarrel between the two countries, but there’s growing domestic criticism in the House of Commons about the lack of naval protection for British tankers in the Strait. The outgoing British Prime Minister, Theresa May, is being blamed by some parliamentarians and military officials for failing to agree to a system of joint naval patrols the U.S. was urging Britain and other European navies to establish with American forces. Downing Street took the view that if Britain joined an American-proposed “coalition off navies” it would be seen as endorsing President Donald Trump’s hard-line, sanctions-led approach to Iran, say British and U.S. officials. British defense minister Tobias Ellwood told British broadcasters Sunday that Downing Street is is looking at imposing sanctions against Iran over the seizing of the British-flagged and Swedish-owned Stena Impero and its…
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President Donald Trump said a U.S. warship shot down an Iranian drone Thursday that was threatening the ship and its crew in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump told reporters at a White House event that the drone came within 900 meters of the USS Boxer and ignored “multiple calls to stand down.” “The drone was immediately destroyed,” he said. “This is the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters. The United States reserves the right to defend our personnel, our facilities and interests.” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in New York that he had “no information on losing a drone today.” All of the country’s drones returned to base, Iran’s top military spokesman said, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. “All drones belonging to Iran in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz … returned safely to their bases after their mission of identification and control, and there is no report of any operational response by USS Boxer,” Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior armed forces spokesman, was quoted as saying by Tasnim. “We have not lost any drone in the Strait of Hormuz nor anywhere else,” tweeted Deputy Foreign…
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The United States needs to keep the pressure on Iran over its nuclear enrichment program, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn told anchor Charles Payne on Fox News. The interview video feed from “Sunday Morning Futures,” which aired Saturday, is available here. The transcript is available here. Blackburn is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Iran is desperate, the senator said, and, “Bear in mind, their economy is shrinking six to ten percent this year. Inflation is at forty percent.” President Donald Trump is doing the right thing with sanctions to stop them from enriching uranium and supporting terrorism, she said. This problem dates to the 1970s with the Iranian revolution. “The pressure is having an effect,” she said. The U.S. learned during President Barack Obama’s years that “leading from behind does not work,” she said in response to a question about getting European allies on board. Blackburn said she is holding out hope that diplomacy can work. Blackburn has been a consistent ally on President Trump’s efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. On June 27, the Johnson City Press quoted her as saying she supports the president’s new sanctions, which are in response to Iran shooting down an…
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by Fred Lucas Russia isn’t the only threat to election security going into 2020, as Trump administration officials say they are preparing for meddling from Iran, China, and North Korea. The federal government anticipates that Russia will again meddle in the U.S. election in 2020 through “Russian-controlled or influenced English-language media, false-flag operations, or sympathetic spokespersons,” a senior intelligence official said. China’s government finances English-language media outlets in the United States to influence U.S. perceptions on various issues, such as trade, the senior intelligence official told reporters during a briefing on election security. “No surprise to you: Iran is increasing their use of social media to promote strategic goals and perspectives to the American public,” the official continued. “Its influence campaigns have included denigrating U.S. decisions to leave [the Iran nuclear deal], downplaying the effectiveness of sanctions, and promoting pro-Iranian interests.” Administration officials asked reporters that the conference participants’ names not be used. North Korea is also in the mix, said a senior law enforcement official, who spoke of the FBI Foreign Influence Task Force set up in 2017 to combat the international meddling. “We’ve since expanded our scope to look at any nation-state actors involved in foreign influence,…
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by Shelby Talcott President Hassan Rouhani of Iran said that the White House is “mentally retarded” Tuesday after new sanctions were imposed on the country. “Hard-hitting sanctions” were placed on Iran by President Donald Trump Monday as tensions between the two countries increased. The sanctions were specifically placed on the Supreme Leader of Iran and the Office of the Supreme Leader, among others. They are intended to deny government officials “key” financial assets that are under U.S. jurisdiction. ….a dangerous journey. We don’t even need to be there in that the U.S. has just become (by far) the largest producer of Energy anywhere in the world! The U.S. request for Iran is very simple – No Nuclear Weapons and No Further Sponsoring of Terror! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2019 “The White House is afflicted by mental retardation and does not know what to do,” Rouhani said on television Tuesday, according to The Hill. Rouhani also said that the sanctions were “outrageous and idiotic,” and that the decision by the Trump administration showed Trump was not looking to talk to Iran. “You [Trump] immediately proved you were lying,” Rouhani said Tuesday, according to BBC. “You are not…
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by Chris White President Donald Trump approved a series of cyberattacks targeting the systems Iran uses to launch missiles, Yahoo reported. Personnel with U.S. Cyber Command launched the attacks Thursday, the Friday report notes, citing sources within the administration. The sources told reporters that the Pentagon proposed launching them after Iran’s alleged attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. “This operation imposes costs on the growing Iranian cyber threat, but also serves to defend the United States Navy and shipping operations in the Strait of Hormuz,” Thomas Bossert, a former senior White House cyber official in the Trump administration, told The Washington Post Saturday. The White House has not responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment about the nature of the attack. The Pentagon also declined to comment, citing policies preventing the Department of Defense from discussing ongoing cyberspace operations. Thursday’s strikes targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps represents the first use of force since Cyber Command first stepped up its actions ahead of a belligerent Iran. Cyber Command used new actions that the president granted it that allow the agency to streamline approval for such measures. The Department of Homeland Security issued a warning Saturday that Iran…
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The United States was “cocked & loaded,” ready to strike three sites in Iran in retaliation for the downing of a U.S. drone over the Strait of Hormuz but called off the attacks at the last possible moment to spare Iranian lives. The revelation by U.S. President Donald Trump on social media Friday followed news reports that the president initially authorized strikes on a handful of Iranian targets, such as radar installations and missile batteries, before pulling back. “We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it,” Trump tweeted, saying the action would have been disproportionate. “I am in no hurry,” Trump added. The president also said that he authorized additional “biting” sanctions against Iran late Thursday night as part of his administration’s maximum pressure campaign to force Iran to restart negotiations over its nuclear program. “Iran can NEVER have Nuclear Weapons, not against the USA, and not against the WORLD!” Trump tweeted. The move appears to pull Washington and Tehran back from the brink of armed conflict that could engulf…
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by Christopher Roach Americans are weary of Middle Eastern wars and skeptical of claims from our intelligence agencies supporting such conflict. While the attack on Iraq in 2003 depended on intelligence suggesting an ongoing nuclear weapons program and attacks on Syria occurred after Bashar al-Assad’s supposed use of illegal chemical weapons against civilians, both of these assumptions either were refuted or at least face serious, evidence-based criticism. In comparison, the most recent charge against Iran—a mine attack on a Japanese cargo vessel that caused no casualties—is pretty weak sauce. As far as its magnitude, this is hardly Pearl Harbor. At the same time, the grainy video of an Iranian patrol boat parked alongside the vessel does not prove to the satisfaction of reasonable American skeptics that Iran was responsible for the explosion. War Drums In the Distance The recent incident occurred in a climate of sharpening anti-Iranian rhetoric from the United States, in particular, National Security Advisor John Bolton, as well as our country’s regional allies Saudi Arabia and Israel. The three nations have aligned against Iran in recent years. This focus on Shiite Iran has occurred, even as the most dramatic and deadly terror attacks in Europe, the…
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Iran shot down a U.S. drone in an incident Iranian officials said happened over the country’s territory but U.S. officials say took place in international airspace. U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Bill Urban said Thursday an Iranian surface-to-air missile shot down a U.S. Navy maritime surveillance aircraft in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz. He called it an “unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset,” and said the unmanned aircraft is used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions over the ocean and coastal regions. In the Iranian account, the drone was shot down by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in the airspace of the country’s southern Hormozgan province, near the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military said Iran tried to shoot down a U.S. drone last week, and tensions between the two countries have increased with attacks against oil tankers in the region that the U.S. blames on Iran, but which Iran says it did not carry out. Relations have deteriorated since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew last year from the international agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. New U.S. sanctions have hurt Iran’s economy, and Iran has announced increased production of low-enriched uranium…
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The United States says it will “guarantee freedom of navigation” for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz through diplomatic talks or military intervention, contending again that it was “unmistakable” that Iran launched last week’s attacks on two tankers sailing through the narrow passage. “These were attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran on commercial shipping on the freedom of navigation with the clear intent to deny transit through the Strait,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News Sunday. The top U.S. diplomat said the United States does not want war with Tehran, but it will ensure passage through the chokepoint that links the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, a hook-shaped body of water through which as much as a third of the world’s oil supply is shipped. “The United States is going to make sure that we take all the actions necessary, diplomatic and otherwise, that achieve that outcome,” he told Fox. Pompeo told another Sunday news talk show, CBS News’ Face the Nation, that military intervention would be employed if necessary. Iran has rejected the U.S. accusation it is responsible for the attacks on the Norwegian and Japanese ships, one transporting oil and the other chemicals.…
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The U.S. Navy has released video it says shows an Iranian patrol boat removing an unexploded limpet mine from the hull of one of two tankers carrying petroleum products that were attacked in the Gulf of Oman Thursday. One of the tankers is Norwegian-owned and the other is owned by Japanese Kokuka Sangyo shipping company. Photographs also released by the U.S. military show the removed mine had been attached to the Japanese tanker, slightly forward of a mine that had already exploded. Bellingcat's @Timmi_Allen made the following video that enhances the original video, and makes it somewhat easier to see what is going on. It does look like an object is removed. But we still have to confirm this is the Kokuka Courageous. https://t.co/TIJvfegVWl pic.twitter.com/DpdPS927kg — Bellingcat (@bellingcat) June 14, 2019 The Norwegian tanker was set on fire and sent up smoke thick and black enough to be seen by satellites in space. The head of the Kokuka Sangyo shipping company which operates the tanker Kokuka Courageous said their ship had been attacked twice, with one explosion near the engine room and another on the right-hand side, near the back. Speaking to reporters Friday, Yutaka Katada, said the crew…
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House Democrats will hear from former CIA director John Brennan about the situation in Iran, inviting him to speak next week amid heightened concerns over the Trump administration’s sudden moves in the region. Brennan, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, is scheduled to talk to House Democrats at a private weekly caucus meeting Tuesday, according to a Democratic aide and another person familiar with the private meeting. Both were granted anonymity to discuss the meeting. The invitation to Brennan and Wendy Sherman, the former State Department official and top negotiator of the Iran nuclear deal, offers counterprogramming to the Trump administration’s closed-door briefing for lawmakers also planned for Tuesday on Capitol Hill. Democratic lawmakers are likely to attend both sessions. Brennan a Trump critic The Trump administration recently sent an aircraft carrier and other military resources to the Persian Gulf region and withdrew nonessential personnel from Iraq, raising alarm among Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill over the possibility of a confrontation with Iran. Trump in recent days downplayed any potential for conflict. But questions remain about what prompted the actions, and many lawmakers have demanded more information. Trump and Brennan have clashed openly, particularly over the…
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The United States military is once again increasing its arsenal in the Middle East to counter Iranian threats, announcing Friday the movement of a Patriot missile battery and the USS Arlington landing platform dock ship used in amphibious assaults. The move comes a day after The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group and four B-52 bombers arrived in the Middle East in response to concerns Iran may be planning an attack against American targets. “It’s important that Iran understands that an attack on Americans or its interests will be met with an appropriate response,” Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan said Friday. “We’re in the Middle East to defeat terrorism, fight and build security … but we will protect ourselves.” The Iranian threat was both “on land and sea” and included commercial shows that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a branch of Iran’s armed forces, loaded with “potential military hardware to include missiles,” a senior military official told reporters at the Pentagon. The USS Arlington will be replacing the USS Fort McHenry to provide “additional command and control capability in the region,” which would “speed up the ability to respond” to any threat, the official added. Pentagon…
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Iran’s president said Wednesday the country will stop complying with parts of former President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal, Fox News said. Hassan Rouhani set a 60-day deadline for new terms before resuming higher uranium enrichment, Fox News said. It has been a year since President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from Obama’s 2015 agreement. The breakaway could further escalate tensions between Iran and the United States. ABC News reported that the recent decision to send an aircraft carrier and bombers to the Middle East to deter Iran stemmed in part from intelligence that the nation was possibly transporting missiles on boats in the Persian Gulf. In response to Iran’s announcement, U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07), gave the following statement: “President Trump was absolutely right to back out of the Iran Deal in 2017. Technically, the Obama administration willed the JCPOA into existence. Iran never signed the deal in the first place and it was never a treaty approved by Congress. Now Iran is announcing it is pulling out of that same nuclear deal and sets an ultimatum to renegotiate terms. How do you back out of a deal never acknowledged in the first place? “Clearly, Iran is…
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the Middle East for regional security talks as Washington looks to draw new support in its opposition to Iranian aggression. Pompeo began is trip in Kuwait late Tuesday and headed to Israel Wednesday. His trip will also take him to Lebanon. In Israel, Pompeo is due to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government is headed to a tough April 9 re-election contest as Netanyahu is embroiled in a corruption investigation and facing allegations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Pompeo, in comments to reporters en route to the Middle East, dismissed the suggestion that his meeting with Netanyahu could be seen as the U.S. intruding in the Israeli election in support of Netanyahu. A senior State Department official said last week that Pompeo would not be meeting with Netanyahu’s opponents, but Netanyahu alone as the current head of the Israeli government. Netanyahu is visiting Washington next week for the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful Jewish lobbying group in the United States, and also could meet with President Donald Trump. Pompeo said the recent U.S. shift away from terminology describing the West Bank and…
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Reuters Oil producer group OPEC on Monday scrapped its planned meeting in April and will decide instead whether to extend output cuts in June, once the market has assessed the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iran and the crisis in Venezuela. A ministerial panel of OPEC and its allies recommended that they cancel the extraordinary meeting scheduled for April 17-18 and hold the next regular talks on June 25-26. The energy minister of OPEC’s de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, said the market was looking oversupplied until the end of the year but that April would be too early for any decision on output policy. “The consensus we heard… is that April will be premature to make any production decision for the second half,” the Saudi minister, Khalid al-Falih, said. “As long as the levels of inventories are rising and we are far from normal levels, we will stay the course, guiding the market towards balance,” he added. The United States has been increasing its own oil exports in recent months while imposing sanctions on OPEC members Venezuela and Iran in an effort to reduce those two countries’ shipments to global markets. Washington’s policies have introduced a new level of…
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U.S. President Donald Trump assailed his intelligence chiefs Wednesday, calling them “extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong!” He added, “Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!” Trump’s unusual broadside on Twitter against the heads of the country’s intelligence agencies came a day after they disputed some of his views on Iran and world trouble spots in testimony before a congressional hearing on global threats. Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel said Iran was “technically” in compliance with the 2015 deal between it and world powers to curtail its nuclear weapons development and at least a year away from developing such a weapon. Trump tweeted that since the U.S. withdrew from the pact, Iran is “MUCH different, but a source of potential danger and conflict.They are testing Rockets (last week) and more, and are coming very close to the edge. There economy is now crashing, which is the only thing holding them back. Be careful of Iran.” The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong! When I became President Iran was making trouble all over the Middle East, and…
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