Day: January 13, 2020

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed as irrelevant questions about how imminent a threat Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani posed to American interests in the Middle East when Trump ordered a drone strike that killed him.

Trump offered no evidence supporting his claim that Soleimani was about to blow up four U.S. embassies, after key U.S. officials declined Sunday to say they had seen such a specific threat.

On Twitter, Trump said the mainstream U.S. news media and “their Democrat Partners are working hard to determine whether or not the future attack by terrorist Soleimani was ‘imminent’ or not, & was my team in agreement. The answer to both is a strong YES., but it doesn’t really matter because of his horrible past!”

The Fake News Media and their Democrat Partners are working hard to determine whether or not the future attack by terrorist Soleimani was “imminent” or not, & was my team in agreement. The answer to both is a strong YES., but it doesn’t really matter because of his horrible past!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2020

He contended that opposition Democrats and the news media “are trying to make terrorist Soleimani into a wonderful guy, only because I did what should have been done for 20 years. Anything I do, whether it’s the economy, military, or anything else, will be scorned by the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats!”

The Democrats and the Fake News are trying to make terrorist Soleimani into a wonderful guy, only because I did what should have been done for 20 years. Anything I do, whether it’s the economy, military, or anything else, will be scorned by the Rafical Left, Do Nothing Democrats!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2020

On Sunday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CBS News’ Face the Nation show, “I didn’t see the intelligence about Iran posing an imminent threat to four U.S. embassies, but I believe President Trump when he says there was one.”

The Pentagon chief added, “What I’m saying is I share the president’s view that probably- my expectation was they were going to go after our embassies.”

Esper, in another interview, told CNN’s State of the Union show, that he believed Soleimani was “days away” from launching an attack on U.S. facilities when the drone attack killed him Jan. 3.

Iran, in response, fired 16 ballistic missiles at bases in Iraq where U.S. troops are stationed, although the U.S. says it knew of the attacks hours ahead of time, allowing forces to bunker in safety. There were no reports of U.S. casualties.

In extensive Capitol Hill briefings on the Soleimani killing, lawmakers, including House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, said Trump administration officials never mentioned the potential for attacks on the four embassies.

But U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien told the Fox News Sunday show, “They can trust us on this intelligence” about the threat posed by Soleimani.

But he said it was “always difficult to know the specifics” of threats, saying they came from Soleimani and the Quds Force. He said there were “very significant threats to American facilities in the region,” without acknowledging any specific threat to four embassies.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, told ABC’s This Week, “I don’t think the administration has been straight with the Congress of the United States.”

After Tehran fired the missiles at the U.S. forces in Iraq, Trump backed off earlier threats of further military attacks against Iran, instead imposing more economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

O’Brien said the U.S.’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran is working. “Iran is being choked off,” he said, making it difficult for Tehran to “get the money” for continued funding for its Quds Force military operations in the Mideast.

The U.S. has expressed the view that its economic sanctions against Tehran will eventually force it to renegotiate the 2015 international treaty restraining Iran’s nuclear program, the deal Trump withdrew the U.S. from.

But Trump, in a tweet late Sunday, seemed indifferent whether there are new negotiations with Tehran, saying, “Actually, I couldn’t care less if they negotiate. Will be totally up to them but, no nuclear weapons and ‘don’t kill your protesters.'”

O’Brien said student protests in Tehran that started Saturday, after Iran admitted that it mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet, killing all 176 aboard, in the hours after its attacks on the Iraqi bases, will also pressure Iranian leaders to renegotiate the nuclear treaty.

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Queen Elizabeth II said Monday that she has agreed to grant Prince Harry and Meghan their wish for a more independent life that will see them move part-time to Canada.

The British monarch said in a statement that “today my family had very constructive discussions on the future of my grandson and his family.”

She said it had been “agreed that there will be a period of transition in which the Sussexes will spend time in Canada and the UK.” Harry and Meghan are also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

“These are complex matters for my family to resolve, and there is some more work to be done, but I have asked for final decisions to be reached in the coming days,” the queen said.

In a six-sentence statement that mentioned the word “family” six times, the queen said that “though we would have preferred them to remain full-time working Members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family.”

Monday’s meeting involved the queen, her heir Prince Charles and his sons William and Harry, with Meghan expected to join by phone from Canada.

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Talks between leaders of Libya’s two warring sides wrapped up Monday in Moscow, with Russia’s foreign minister noting some progress, a day after a fragile cease-fire brokered by Russia and Turkey came into force.

Russia and Turkey are emerging as key arbiters in the war-torn country, trying to push Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), and his rival, renegade General Khalifa Haftar, to start agreeing to the outlines of a longer-term political settlement, one suiting both Ankara and Moscow.

On Monday, before talks started, al-Sarraj urged Libyans to “turn the page” on the turmoil of the past,” saying all Libyans should “reject discord and close ranks to move toward stability and peace.” He said the GNA had entered the cease-fire to end the bloodshed and that his beleaguered government is in “a position of strength to maintain national and social cohesion.”

The latest phase of the long-running violent turmoil that followed the 2011 ouster of then-dictator Moammar Gadhafi has been bogged down in stalemate for months.

The warring factions failed to sign the truce as scheduled Monday, and adjourned for further discussions Tuesday. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in the Russian capital he was confident they would ink the document, saying they viewed the document “positively.”

More than 280 civilians and about 2,000 fighters have been killed and 146,000 Libyans displaced since Haftar launched an assault last year on Tripoli, according to monitoring groups. Formerly one of Col. Gadhafi’s most trusted lieutenants, Haftar, since 2014, has been waging a campaign against the GNA, which is recognized by the U.S. and most Western states as the legitimate Libyan government.

Last week, his forces seized the coastal town of Sirte, Gadhafi’s birthplace and the scene of the ousted autocrat’s brutal death.

Both Russia and Turkey have much invested in Libya — Russia in terms of reputation, clout and potential oil deals, and Turkey with even more wide-ranging commercial interests, say analysts. They have been backing opposing sides in Libya, posing a risk to their fledgling, albeit competitive, partnership in northern Syria, where Moscow has accepted, at least temporarily, a Turkish military intervention against the Kurds. Moscow has also been working with Ankara to try to forge a post-war future for Syria that works for both the Turks and Russians and balances out their interests and influence.

The Libya cease-fire followed a joint call by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who backs al-Sarraj and has deployed troops to help the GNA — and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, who has been supporting Haftar. Hundreds of military contractors from Russia’s Wagner Group have been fighting alongside Haftar. The Wagner Group is a Kremlin-tied private military contractor whose mercenaries have been identified fighting in Syria and other hotspots on the side of Moscow’s allies.

Last week, President Putin said he was aware of the presence of Russian mercenaries in Libya, but denied they were they on his command. “

If there are Russian citizens there, then they are not representing the interests of the Russian state and they are not receiving money from the Russian state,” he said.

Pro-Haftar forces are supported also by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. French officials have denied a charge by Sarraj that it has been tacitly supporting Haftar’s siege of the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

In December, Russian energy companies signed contracts with Libya’s National Oil Corporation for exploration. Turkey also is determined to establish a long-term partnership with Libya, formerly part of Turkey’s Ottoman empire. Turkish companies, which moved into Libya aggressively after the ouster of Gadhafi, are owed millions of dollars in unpaid business they conducted prior to 2014.

And in November, Erdogan signed signed memorandums with the GNA on security cooperation and maritime boundaries. The latter agreement, which Brussels says violates international law, secured in principle oil shale deposits in the Mediterranean Sea for Turkey. The memorandums between the GNA and Ankara prompted alarm in Moscow. Kremlin officials warned the deals — along with Erdogan’s announcement he would send troops to Libya to buttress the GNA — could derail peace negotiations scheduled for later this year in Berlin.

The increasing involvement of foreign forces and rival outside powers in Libya prompted German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week to warn that the country risked sliding into a Syria-like civil war.

The German leader has been supportive of the arbitration of Moscow and Ankara. And during a joint press conference Saturday with Putin in Moscow, she said, “We hope that the joint efforts by Russia and Turkey will lead to success, and we will soon send out invitations for a conference in Berlin.”

Analysts say the Europeans, the largest donors of humanitarian aid to Libya, have increasingly become bystanders as events unfold in the north African country — and are eager for someone, or anyone, to secure a resolution to a conflict that’s helped facilitate the movement of sub-Saharan migrants to Europe.

The European Union has been anything but united on which side to support in Libya, say Karim Mezran and Emily Burchfield, analysts with the U.S.-based research group the Atlantic Council. “

The main rift is between France, which claims to support the GNA, but has been linked to military and financial support to Haftar; and Italy, which aligns with the United Nations in backing Sarraj. The clash between Italy and France over Libya has contributed to the failure of international efforts to develop a political solution for the conflict, they say.

Without European leadership on Libya, Russia and Turkey have found it easier to insert themselves into the conflict,” they added.

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Iranian protesters took to the streets in the third day of demonstrations against the government after it acknowledged mistakenly shooting down a Ukrainian passenger jet, killing all 176 aboard.
 
Video posted online showed students outside universities in Tehran and Isfahan Monday chanting at the country’s rulers, “Clerics get lost!”
 
Earlier videos from the night before appear to show security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas at the protesters in Tehran. Authorities denied they opened fire but the semi-official Fars news agency reported police had “shot tear gas in some areas” in an attempt to disperse the demonstrators.
 
The videos showed protesters coughing and sputtering as they tried to escape the tear gas fumes. VOA could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
 
Tehran’s police chief, Gen. Hossein Rahimi, insisted authorities treated protesters with “patience and tolerance.”

“Police did not shoot in the gatherings since broad-mindedness and restraint has been the agenda of the police forces of the capital,” Iranian media quoted him as saying.

The protests erupted after Iran on Saturday acknowledged that “human error” led a missile operator to fire on the Boeing 737 jet last Wednesday. The accident occurred hours after Iran fired 16 ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. forces in retaliation for U.S. President Donald Trump ordering the Jan. 3 drone strike at the Baghdad airport that killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force.
 
As protests started against Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,Trump voiced support for the demonstrators and warned Iranian officials, “Don’t kill your protesters.”
 
After Iran fired the missiles at the Iraqi bases, Trump retreated from threats of further armed conflict with Tehran. He instead imposed more economic sanctions against Iran in an effort to force it to renegotiate terms of the 2015 international treaty aimed at restraining its nuclear program, the deal that Trump withdrew the U.S. from.

Watch related video report by Henry Ridgwell:

U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien told CBS’ Face the Nation show on Sunday that Iran is “being choked off” economically and that U.S. officials see an opportunity to further intensify pressure on the country’s leaders and leave them with no choice but to negotiate. But late Sunday, Trump seemed indifferent to the possibility of more negotiations.
 
“Actually, I couldn’t care less if they negotiate,” Trump said on Twitter.  “Will be totally up to them but, no nuclear weapons and ‘don’t kill your protesters.'”

To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS. Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2020

 
On Sunday, in an emotional speech before parliament, the head of the Revolutionary Guard apologized for the missile attack on the jetliner and insisted it was a tragic mistake.
 
“I swear to almighty God that I wished I was on that plane and had crashed with them and burned, but had not witnessed this tragic incident,” said Gen. Hossein Salami. “I have never been this embarrassed in my entire life. Never.”
 
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Twitter, expressed “profound regrets” and apologized for the shoot-down of the Ukraine International Airlines jet. But he contended that ‘Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster.”

O’Brien rejected Zarif’s claim in a Fox News Sunday interview, saying Iran first covered up its actions then claimed the civilian aircraft veered toward a military base. He said Iran needs to investigate the accident, apologize for it, pay compensation to the victims’ families and “make sure it never happens again.”
 
A team of Canadian officials is due to travel Monday to Iran to work with the families of victims, including identifying those killed and repatriating their remains. They will also assist in the investigation.
 
Off the 176 dead, at least 57 were Canadians.
 
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participated in a memorial service Sunday in Edmonton where he expressed sorrow for those who died and said, “This tragedy should never have occurred.”
 
“We will continue to work with our partners to ensure that a full, transparent investigation is conducted,” Trudeau said.  “I want to assure all families and all Canadians we will not rest until there are answers. We will not rest until there is justice and accountability.”

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A flurry of diplomatic visits and meetings crisscrossing the Persian Gulf have driven urgent efforts in recent days to defuse the possibility of all-out war after the U.S. killed Iran’s top military commander.

Global leaders and top diplomats are repeating the mantra of “de-escalation” and “dialogue,” yet none have publicly laid out a path to achieving either.

The United States and Iran have said they do not want war, but fears have grown that the crisis could spin out of Tehran’s or Washington’s control. Tensions have careened from one crisis to another since President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

The U.S. drone strike that killed Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani and a senior Iraqi militia leader in Baghdad on Jan. 3 was seen as a major provocation.

The killing alarmed even Washington’s allies in the Gulf, with Saudi Arabia dispatching Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman to Washington right after with a message to de-escalate.

Iran retaliated days later, firing a barrage of missiles at two military bases in Iraq where U.S. troops are stationed. No casualties were reported in that attack and Iranian commanders say their intention was not to kill. Amid the confusion and fears of U.S. retaliation, Iran acknowledged it had unintentionally shot down  a Ukrainian passenger jet after takeoff from the Iranian capital, Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.

In Iran on Sunday, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said that it was “a very sensitive time for the region.”

“The only solution to these crises is first de-escalation from all, and dialogue is the only solution to these crises,” he said during a joint press appearance with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Rouhani said “the escalation of tensions in the region are not beneficial to the region and the world.”

The emir’s visit to Iran was one of many diplomatic forays aimed at calming regional tensions and keeping back channels open.

Iran sent its foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to Oman on Sunday to be among the first to offer condolences in person to the new ruler of Oman. The sultanate, like Qatar, is a close U.S. ally, but also maintains good relations with Iran. Oman helped facilitate talks between the U.S. and Iran under President Barack Obama.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Saudi Arabia on Sunday as part of a tour of oil-producing Gulf Arab states. Stability in the Persian Gulf is a national security priority for Japan, which imports nearly 90% of its oil from the Middle East. Much of that is shipped from Arab Gulf states through the narrow Straight of Hormuz, which Iran partly controls.

Abe next visited the United Arab Emirates on Monday for a meeting with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, before traveling to Oman Tuesday to meet Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said.

Japanese energy supplies were a target of rising tensions in June when two cargo ships were hit off the Gulf of Oman. The attacks took place when Abe was in Iran seeking to backstep American tensions.

Japanese media reported that Abe was told by Saudi leaders there on Sunday that they fully support Tokyo’s plans to deploy naval forces, a destroyer and two patrol airplanes off the coasts of Yemen and Oman to help protect Japanese energy supplies.

 “A military conflict in the Middle East would have a huge impact on global peace and stability,” Abe was quoted in Japan’s The Mainichi daily as saying to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “I’d like to ask all countries concerned to respond [to the situation] in a restrained manner.”

Meanwhile, Iran hosted Syrian Prime Minster Imad Khamis on Monday. A day earlier Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Qureshi was in Iran where he emphasized the importance of “maximum restraint and immediate steps for de-escalation by all sides,” according to a statement by his office. War is in nobody’s interest and issues must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy, the statement added.
      
He is headed next to Saudi Arabia for meetings Monday. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has before attempted the difficult task of mediating between Iran and the U.S., as well as between archrivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.

In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CBS “Face the Nation” that the U.S. is willing to meet with Iran’s leadership without preconditions. Iranian officials, however, say no meetings can take place without U.S. economic sanctions being lifted first.

There are rumblings that renewed domestic pressured on Iran could force it to negotiate with Washington. Thousands of Iranians are taking part in angry streets protests over the downing of the jetliner whose majority of passengers were Iranian nationals. Iranian officials admitted responsibility for shooting down the jet after initial denials by leaders.

The demonstrations are demanding accountability and change in Iran. Deadly protests in November already shook the country, triggered by price hikes and economic woes from U.S. sanctions.
n a tweet about the protests and whether they might pressure Iran’s leadership to change its tone, Trump wrote: “Actually, I couldn’t care less if they negotiate. Will be totally up to them but, no nuclear weapons and ‘don’t kill your protesters.'”

In Tehran, government spokesman Ali Rabiei gave a glimpse into how Iran’s leadership views any possible dialogue with Trump. Speaking to reporters on Monday, he said if Iran opens dialogue with the United States, it would signal that pressure on Iran works and could lead to more pressure.

“They give us messages, such as they have nothing to do with others and want to talk to us directly. We have no trust in them,” he said, describing Trump as “untrustworthy.”

“He thinks that by putting ordinary people under pressure, he can achieve what he wants and can force us to retreat,” Rabiei said.
 

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It looked more like April than January across parts of the eastern U.S. after powerful spring-like storms pummeled several states over the weekend.

Tornadoes, floods, and hurricane-strength winds killed at least 11 people in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Alabama.

About 200,000 people were without electricity Sunday as the strong storms blew down power lines, overturned cars, and tore up trees.

Gusty winds also knocked out power along the East Coast while flood warnings were out Sunday in several other southern states.

Meanwhile, millions in the Northeast let their winter coats hang in the closet Sunday as record-breaking warmth gave a treat to runners, golfers, and just about anyone who loves the outdoors.

Thermometers reached highs of 22 Celsius in Boston and 20 in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Meteorologists say an intense polar vortex — frigid air in high altitudes surrounded by powerful winds — has been keeping the cold in the Arctic.

But forecasters say the East can expect more January-like temperatures the rest of the week.

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