The president addressed the nation for the first time since ordering the killing of Iran’s top general last week.
resident Donald Trump addressed the nation Wednesday for the first time since ordering an airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week, prompting Iran to fire more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops Tuesday night.
Speaking from the grand foyer at the White House, Trump opened his remarks with a pledge to disrupt Iranian efforts to obtain nuclear material, and later announced additional sanctions on the country.
He said Tuesday’s attack did not result in any American or Iraqi casualties, and the damage sustained at the bases was “minimal.”
“Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a good thing for the world,” Trump said, flanked by military brass and joined by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
Several Trump administration officials told CNN they believed Iran may have intentionally targeted areas so as to avoid American casualties, signaling an attempt to deescalate the crisis.
That analysis dovetails with a statement from Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who positioned the missile salvo as a defensive measure.
“We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression,” he tweeted after the attack.
Iran launched over a dozen ballistic missiles at Iraqi military facilities housing U.S. troops on Tuesday night, an act of retaliation for the U.S. airstrike that killed Soleimani last week. Soleimani’s death has brought renewed volatility to the standoff between the U.S. and Iran as leaders of both countries threatened each other with destruction and reprisal attacks in the days after the airstrike.
Iran targeted two main locations in the strike ― a base in Erbil and the Al Asad Air Base, which officials said was hit with 17 missiles.
The U.S. and Iran have been engaged in an escalating series of clashes since the Trump administration withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal back in May 2018, sometimes nearing open conflict during the disputes. But the U.S. assassination of Soleimani, a top Iranian military official who was central to its foreign policy and operations abroad, marked the most dramatic rise in tensions yet.
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened “forceful revenge” against the U.S. after Soleimani’s killing, and proclaimed after the missile strikes on Wednesday that the “corrupt presence of the United States in the region should come to an end.” Iran also earlier announced on Sunday that it would step further away from agreements under the 2015 nuclear deal meant to curb its nuclear weapons program.
Although both Trump and Iranian officials appeared to not push for further ramping up of the conflict following Iran’s strike on Iraqi military facilities on Tuesday, neither has there been a dramatic deescalation in the dispute. Trump tweeted that “all is well” after the attack and proclaimed that the U.S. has the most powerful military in the world. There are over 5,000 U.S. troops deployed in Iraq as part of the operation against the Islamic State militant group.
HUFFPOST.COM
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-speech-iran-attack-missiles_n_5e15f8fbc5b687c7eb5ec518
The strike on the al-Asad base Wednesday morning local time is the first known retaliation to Trump’s killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.
ran attacked a major base in Iraq that houses American military forces on Wednesday morning local time, Iranian and U.S. officials said.
It launched ballistic missiles at al-Asad airbase in its first move against the U.S. since President Donald Trump ordered an American drone strike to kill Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, dramatically escalating tensions between the two countries.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — the branch of the country’s military in which Soleimani served — directed the assault, it told Iranian and American media.
“The brave soldiers of IRGC’s aerospace unit have launched a successful attack with tens of ballistic missiles on Al Assad military base in the name of martyr Gen. [Qassem] Soleimani,” read an IRGC statement sent to New York Times reporter Farnaz Fassihi.
Trump was monitoring the situation, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said.
More than 5,000 American troops are in Iraq as part of the effort to fight the self-described Islamic State. The country shares a long border with Iran, and Tehran has broad influence there through a network of allied militias and politicians. Soleimani’s killing made an Iranian response inevitable and put U.S. citizens and interests at risk, the Trump administration and analysts said. U.S. and Iraqi officials said this week that they were preparing for the movement of American forces out of Iraq ― a prospect that achieves one of Iran’s top goals and is a boon for ISIS as it attempts to regroup.
How the Wednesday attack affects the chances of further U.S.-Iran confrontation isn’t immediately clear.
“This may be a big deal or it may be a symbolic way to launch some [initial] retaliatory strikes that are easy to execute without that much damage,” Ilan Goldenberg, a former State and Defense Department official now with the Center for a New American Security, wrote on Twitter. “We need to wait and see.”
The IRGC said it intends to retaliate against U.S. allies if they allow further American attacks on Iran to be launched from their countries, Fassihi reported. That’s a worrying prospect for a range of nations, including Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and even Turkey. Regional officials, including from Iran’s chief rival Saudi Arabia, have loudly been saying they want to see tensions reduced and are not eager for an outright and broad conflict.
Lawmakers have also urged restraint and plan to soon consider legislation they hope will limit Trump’s ability to strike Iran.
The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a HuffPost request for comment.|
HUFFPOST.COM
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/us-facilities-in-iraq-attacked_n_5e15126ac5b6c7b859d251c0
“Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill used his first tweets of 2020 to reveal the “common sense question” that every American must currently consider about the impeachment of President Donald Trump over the Ukraine scandal.
Namely, “why would an innocent man bar witnesses who could exonerate him” from testifying in the Senate’s impeachment trial, asked Hamill.
″#Duh,” he captioned the post.
Mark HammyNewYear ✔@HamillHimselfThe common sense question every American must consider for themselves: Why would an innocent man bar witnesses who could exonerate him? #Duh https://bit.ly/2u5mus4
McConnell Won’t Allow Witnesses In Senate Trial Because They Could Mean Conviction
Mitch McConnell is still refusing to describe how the Senate trial on the impeachment of Donald Trump will be structured. However, The New York Times reports that the Republican leader is clear on...
crooksandliars.com
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is refusing to allow key witnesses, including former national security adviser John Bolton, to testify in Trump’s trial because he sees it “as an opening for uncertainty,” reported The New York Times.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), meanwhile, is presently holding back from transmitting the articles of impeachment to the Senate amid fears of Republican bias in the proceedings. McConnell has previously vowed to work with the White House on Trump’s defense.
Hamill, a frequent critic of the president, earlier advised his 3.5 million followers on Twitter to “buckle-up for 2020: the make-or-break year in which our country either reclaims normalcy or doubles down on the crazy.”
Mark HammyNewYear ✔@HamillHimselfBuckle-up for 2020: the make-or-break year in which our country either reclaims normalcy or doubles down on the crazy.#TheDividedStatesOfAmerica #VOTE
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