Tag: Trump foreign policy

Republicans deliver rare rebuke of Trump, slamming his Syria withdrawal decision

Washington Post logoPresident Trump faced a swift torrent of Republican criticism Monday as lawmakers rebuked his plan to withdraw troops from northeast Syria, a move Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said would undermine U.S. national security and potentially bolster Islamic State terrorists.

McConnell (R-Ky.), in a rare public split with Trump, said that a supermajority in the Senate disagreed with the president’s abrupt withdrawal announcement, raising the specter of veto-proof action to oppose the decision.

“A precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime,” McConnell said in a statement Monday. “And it would increase the risk that ISIS and other terrorist groups regroup.”

View the complete October 7 article by Toluse Olorunnipa and Seung Min Kim on The Washington Post website here.

Syria’s Kurds stand to lose all gains from US pullout

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s Kurds accused the U.S. of turning its back on its allies and risking gains made in the fight against the Islamic State group as American troops began pulling back on Monday from positions in northeastern Syria ahead of an expected Turkish assault.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to stand aside — announced by the White House late Sunday — infuriated Kurds, who stand to lose the autonomy they gained in the course of Syria’s civil war.

The Kurdish force pledged to fight back, raising the potential for an eruption of new warfare in Syria. “We will not hesitate for a moment in defending our people” against Turkish troops, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement, adding that it has lost 11,000 fighters in the war against IS in Syria.

View the complete October 7 article by Bassem Mroue and Suzan Fraser on the Associated Press website here.

Scoop: Trump pins Ukraine call on Energy Secretary Rick Perry U.S. President Donald Trump stands next to Energy Secretary Rick Perry

Axios logoPresident Trump told House Republicans that he made his now infamous phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the urging of Energy Secretary Rick Perry — a call Trump claimed he didn’t even want to make.

Behind the scenes: Trump made these comments during a conference call with House members on Friday, according to 3 sources on the call.

    • Per the sources, Trump rattled off the same things he has been saying publicly — that his call with Zelensky was “perfect”and he did nothing wrong.
    • But he then threw Perry into the mix and said something to the effect of: “Not a lot of people know this but, I didn’t even want to make the call. The only reason I made the call was because Rick asked me to. Something about an LNG [liquefied natural gas] plant,” one source said, recalling the president’s comments. 2 other sources confirmed the first source’s recollection.

Why it matters: The president’s remarks suggest he may be seeking to distance himself from responsibility or recast the pretext for the call. White House officials did not respond to requests for comment.

    • Another source on the call said Trump added that “more of this will be coming out in the next few days” — referring to Perry.

View the complete October 5 article by Alayna Treene and Jonathan Swan on the Axios website here.

John Bolton has finally spoken, and he put up a big warning sign about Trump and North Korea

Washington Post logoJohn Bolton spoke Monday in his first big public appearance since his acrimonious split with President Trump three weeks ago.

And while Bolton didn’t weigh in on the growing Ukraine scandal, he did rebuke the Trump administration over one of its central foreign policy initiatives: the pursuit of a nuclear deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Appearing at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Bolton declined to directly address things that had occurred during his time in the White House. But he made few bones about his concerns surrounding Trump’s continued pursuit of the elusive deal.

Bolton set the tone by noting early on that he was about to speak about North Korea in “unvarnished terms” and suggested that Kim was happy to see him outside the White House. Bolton then suggested that the negotiations between the two sides were very likely to be fruitless.

View the complete September 30 article by Aaron Blake on The Washington Post website here.

Trump approves troop deployment in response to attacks on Saudi oil sites

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Friday approved the deployment of U.S. troops and missile defense equipment to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) in response to an attack on Saudi oil facilities that the Trump administration has blamed on Iran.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper made the announcement at the Pentagon, saying “all indications are that Iran was responsible for the attack” on the two Saudi oil refineries, which were hit by drones and cruise missiles last weekend.
Saudi Arabia as well as its neighbor the UAE have since requested international support to deter further attacks.

View the complete September 20 article by Ellen Mitchell and Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.

In standoff with Iran, Trump is reaping what he sowed

Washington Post logoSecretary of State Mike Pompeo made an inadvertent admission Wednesday while en route to emergency meetings in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The top U.S. diplomat was checking in on Washington’s close regional allies in the wake of a suspected Iranian strike on a major Saudi oil facility. The attack dealt, at least briefly, a crippling blow to Riyadh’s exports, shook up global markets and clouded the region with a new threat of conflict.

Pompeo described the strike on Saudi Arabia as “an act of war” by Iran, a charge vociferously denied by Iran. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack, but U.S. and Saudi officials doubt that claim and stress, as Pompeo did, that it has “the fingerprints of the ayatollah” — a reference to Iran’s supreme leader.

When pressed by reporters traveling with him about the efficacy of Trump’s current approach, Pompeo said something he perhaps didn’t quite intend. “I would argue that what you are seeing here is a direct result of us reversing the enormous failure of the JCPOA,” he said, using the official acronym for the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that Trump opted to leave.

View the complete September 20 article by Ishaan Tharoor on The Washington Post website here.

Trump says he will ‘substantially’ increase sanctions on Iran

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Wednesday said that he has instructed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to “substantially” increase economic sanctions on Iran. 

Trump’s announcement comes after Trump administration officials have blamed Iran for drone attacks on two Saudi oil sites over the weekend, though the president himself has not yet definitely pinned the blame on Tehran for them.

“I have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase Sanctions on the country of Iran!” the president, who is on a fundraising tour through California, tweeted, without specifically mentioning the attacks.

View the complete September 18 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Trump’s Challenge: Can His Word on Iran Be Trusted?

New York Times logoFor a president with a loose relationship with the facts and poisonous relationships with allies, the attack on the Saudi oil fields poses a challenge: how to prove the administration’s case that Iran was behind the strike and rally the world to respond.

President Trump must now confront that problem as he struggles with one of the most critical national security decisions of his presidency. Over the next few days or weeks, he will almost certainly face the reality that much of the world — angry at his tweets, tirades, untruths and accusations — could be disinclined to believe the arguments advanced by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others that Iran bears responsibility for the attack.

If Mr. Trump tries to gather a coalition to impose diplomatic penalties, tighten sanctions to further choke off Iranian oil exports or retaliate with a military or cyberstrike, he may discover that, like President George W. Bush heading into Iraq 16 years ago, he is largely alone.

View the complete September 17 article by David E. Sanger on The Washington Post website here.

Trump ramps up rhetoric on Iran

The Hill logoPresident Trump is ramping up his rhetoric on Iran following attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia over the weekend that the United States has blamed on Tehran.

Trump has hinted at the potential for military action in the wake of the attacks on two Saudi oil sites and also referred back to Iran’s role in shooting down a U.S. military drone in June, an event that ramped up already high tensions between Washington and Tehran.

“Remember when Iran shot down a drone, saying knowingly that it was in their ‘airspace’ when, in fact, it was nowhere close,” Trump tweeted Monday.

View the complete September 16 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Bolton exit provokes questions about Trump shift on Iran

The Hill logoIran hawks and doves alike believe that President Trump’s policy toward the Islamic Republic will shift with the ouster of national security adviser John Bolton.

That’s provoked some concern from hawks, who worry Bolton’s departure could lead to a softening toward Iran given Trump’s flirtation with meeting the country’s leader.

They are particularly worried when it comes to the 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated by the Obama administration that has been shunned by Trump.

View the complete September 15 article by Rebecca Kheel on The Hill website here.