Tag: Trump foreign policy

Pompeo defends intelligence behind Soleimani strike amid press grilling

The Hill logoSecretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday defended the decision to authorize a drone strike to kill Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, saying intelligence suggested that he was plotting a “large-scale” attack that threatened U.S. embassies, among other American facilities.

Pressed by reporters at a press conference in the White House briefing room, Pompeo said that the Trump administration didn’t know precisely when or where the attack would occur, but insisted it was imminent.

“We had specific information on an imminent threat and the threat stream included attacks on U.S. embassies. Period, full stop,” Pompeo told reporters. Continue reading.

 

Trump administration hits Iran with fresh sanctions after attack on U.S. forces

Washington Post logoThe Trump administration hit Iran with more sanctions Friday in the first concrete response to the attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq this week, which were in retaliation for the U.S. airstrike that killed the most powerful Iranian military commander.

The sanctions target Iran’s metal industries, and eight senior military and national security officials who U.S. officials said were involved in the ballistic missile attacks on two bases in Iraq that house U.S. military personnel.

Those on the sanctions list include the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the deputy chief of staff of the armed forces and the commander of the Basij militia, which has been responsible for a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests. Continue reading.

What Is Trump’s Iran Strategy? Few Seem to Know

When the United States announced Friday that it had killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, something about its explanation left many analysts puzzled.

The strike was intended to deter further Iranian attacks, administration officials said. But they also said it was expected to provoke severe enough attacks by Iran that the Pentagon was deploying an additional several thousand troops to the region.

The apparent contradiction left many experts wondering about the strike’s intended goal and the strategy behind it. Continue reading.

Trump Bet He Could Isolate Iran and Charm North Korea. It’s Not That Easy.

New York Times logoThe president assumed economic levers would guide the countries’ national interests. Now, he confronts twin challenges in an election year.

President Trump entered the new year facing flare-ups of long-burning crises with two old adversaries — Iran and North Korea — that are directly challenging his claim to have reasserted American power around the world.

While the Iranian-backed attack on the United States Embassy in Baghdad seemed to be under control, it played to Mr. Trump’s longtime worry that American diplomats and troops in the Middle East are easy targets and his longtime position that the United States must pull back from the region.

In North Korea, Kim Jong-un’s declaration on Wednesday that the world would “witness a new strategic weapon” seemed to be the end of an 18-month experiment in which Mr. Trump believed his force of personality — and vague promises of economic development — would wipe away a problem that plagued the last 12 of his predecessors. Continue reading

U.S. kills top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani

Axios logoOne of the Iranian regime’s most powerful figures has been killed in a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad’s international airport, the Pentagon has confirmed.

Why it matters: Qasem Soleimani, the leader of the elite Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was as revered by Iran’s proxies and supporters across the region as he was reviled by Iran’s foes, who considered him the mastermind of state-sponsored terrorism.

“At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani.”

— Pentagon statement

North Korea says new tests will help it counter US threats

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said it successfully performed another “crucial test” at its long-range rocket launch site that will further strengthen its nuclear deterrent.

The test — the second at the facility in a week, according to North Korea’s Academy of Defense Science — possibly involved technologies to improve intercontinental ballistic missiles that could potentially reach the continental United States.

Pak Jong Chon, chief of the Korean People’s Army’s general staff, asserted on Saturday that North Korea has built up “tremendous power” and that the findings from the recent tests would be used to develop new weapons to allow the country to “definitely and reliably” counter U.S. nuclear threats.

Trump’s NATO parade of falsehoods and misstatements

Washington Post logoWe are not here to mock the president. But we need to update our chronicle of how he consistently misunderstands NATO financing.

Back in March 2016, The Fact Checker reviewed some inaccurate statements that then-candidate Trump made about the funding of NATO. We concluded that “Trump is simply wrong on direct funding and is imprecise and possibly out of date on indirect funding.”

Since he became president, Trump has continued along the same path. We offered updates in 2017 and 2018. Given the president’s remarks during and after the latest NATO summit, it’s time for another look at this issue.

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Trump Officials Block U.N. Meeting on Human Rights Abuses in North Korea

New York Times logoThe U.S. is trying to preserve a diplomatic opening with Kim Jong-un, even as North Korea dismisses President Trump as a “heedless and erratic old man.”

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has refused to support a move by members of the United Nations Security Council to hold a discussion Tuesday on North Korea’s rampant human rights abuses, effectively blocking the meeting for the second year in a row.

The American action appeared aimed at muting international criticism of Pyongyang’s human rights record in the hope of preserving a tenuous diplomatic opening between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, the authoritarian leader of North Korea. Tensions between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim have broken out into the open in recent days.

On Monday, North Korea called Mr. Trump a “heedless and erratic old man” after the American president warned that Mr. Kim could lose “everything” if he resumed military provocations like nuclear or long-range missile tests before the 2020 elections in the United States.

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Russian Flags Over an American Base

Center for American Progress logo

President Donald Trump’s erratic policy shifts on Syria this fall have planted the seeds for new security threats to the United States and its allies—and Americans are noticing.

The zigs and zags of Trump’s approach to Syria—announcing a full withdrawal of U.S. troops one week then sending U.S. troops back to “secure the oil” the next—opened the door to new security threats, including the revival of ISIS, a humanitarian crisis, and a continued expansion of Russia’s destructive role in Syria and the broader Middle East. In addition to these immediate concerns, there are the long-term effects that will play out for years to come, such as the doubt cast on America’s reliability as a security partner and the troubling signal that U.S. foreign policy prioritizes protecting oil over human life.

In a dismaying symbol of how this vacuum has been filled, Russian troops actually raised the Russian flag over Kobani airfield after they took command of the former U.S. airbase—an image that has already been played up by the Russian propaganda machine.

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House approves two-state resolution in implicit rebuke of Trump

The Hill logoThe House on Friday approved a resolution supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli and Palestinian conflict, recording opposition to any peace plan put forth by the Trump administration that doesn’t expressly call for an independent Palestinian state living side-by-side with a Jewish state of Israel.

Only 5 Republicans backed the measure in the 226-183 vote, though 11 GOP lawmakers had joined a bipartisan amendment reaffirming U.S. commitments to providing military aid to Israel that was added to the bill.

The resolution follows criticism by Democrats of several moves by the Trump administration that they said endangered a two-state solution, including moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and cutting the majority of U.S. aid to the Palestinians.

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