Trump avoids escalating crisis after Iranian missile attacks

[webfact]

Trump avoids escalating crisis after Iranian missile attacks

By Jeff Mason, Ahmed Aboulenein and Parisa Hafezi

 

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a statement about Iran flanked by U.S. Army Chief of Staff General James McConville, Chiarman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Mark Milley and Vice President Mike Pence in the Grand Foyer at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 8, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

 

WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD/DUBAI (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday abandoned days of angry rhetoric and suggested Iran was "standing down" after it launched missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq overnight, as both sides looked to defuse a crisis over the U.S. killing of an Iranian general

 

In an address from the White House, Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to respond militarily to the Iranian attacks on military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq overnight.

 

He said no Americans were harmed in the strikes.

 

"The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it. American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent," he said.

 

"Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world," he said.

 

The missile attacks were in retaliation for the killing by the United States last week of Iranian general Qassim Soleimani which raised concern about a wider war in the Middle East.

 

Trump stopped short of making any direct threat of military action but said the United States "will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime" in response to what he called "Iranian aggression."

 

He offered no specifics.

 

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, addressing a gathering of Iranians chanting "Death to America," said the missile attacks were a "slap on the face" of the United States and said U.S. troops should leave the region.

 

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had said the strikes "concluded" Tehran's response to the killing of Soleimani, who had been responsible for building up Iran's network of proxy armies across the Middle East. He was buried in his hometown Kerman on Monday after days of national mourning.

 

"We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression," he wrote on Twitter.

 

Influential Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who casts himself as a nationalist rejecting both U.S. and Iranian interference in Iraq, also said the crisis Iraq was experiencing was over and he urged militia groups not to carry out attacks.

 

Residents of the town of Duhok reported an explosion overnight as Iranian missiles hit military bases housing U.S-led coalition forces. A crater was found in an empty field and Reuters saw some minor damage to buildings.

 

"I call on the Iraqi factions to be deliberate, patient, and not to start military actions, and to shut down the extremist voices of some rogue elements until all political, parliamentary and international methods have been exhausted," said Sadr, whom Washington has long regarded as an Iranian ally.

 

NUCLEAR DEAL

Trump's address contrasted with his recent harsh rhetoric. The Republican, who was impeached in December and faces an election in November, had vowed to respond "disproportionately" if Iran retaliated strongly against Soleimani’s killing.

 

Trump on Saturday said the United States had targeted 52 Iranian sites, including ones important to the country's culture. He was criticized for that even by U.S. political allies and later backtracked, saying the United States would obey international law on the issue. [L1N29C1AD]

 

On Wednesday, Trump again vowed he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and urged world powers to quit a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran that Washington abandoned in 2018 and work for a new deal, an issue at the heart of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran. Iran has rejected new talks.

 

There was no immediate reaction from Iranian officials to Trump's comments. The semi-official Fars news agency described the U.S. president's remarks as a "big retreat from threats."

 

Trump's reaction soon after Wednesday's attacks was to say on Twitter that "All is well!" and that Washington was assessing damage.

 

That tweet and the comment by Iran's foreign minister soothed some concerns about a wider war and calmed jittery financial markets. U.S. stock prices hit record highs, while world oil prices, after an early spike, fell about four percent.

 

U.S. and European government sources said they believed Iran had deliberately sought to avoid U.S. military casualties in its missile strikes to prevent an escalation.

 

But an Iranian army spokesman had denied "foreign media reports" suggesting there was some kind of coordination between Iran and the United States before the attack to evacuate bases.

 

Iranian state television said Iran had fired 15 ballistic missiles from its territory at U.S. targets in its neighbour Iraq early on Wednesday. The Pentagon said al-Asad air base and another facility in Erbil in Iraq were struck.

 

Iranian television reported an official in the supreme leader's office as saying the attacks were the "weakest" of several retaliation scenarios. It quoted another source saying Iran had lined up 100 other potential targets.

 

Analysts said Iran wanted to avoid any conventional military conflict with superior U.S. forces.

 

After the Iranian missile attack, state television showed footage of the Soleimani burial, with hundreds of people chanting "God is greatest" when the strikes were announced over loudspeakers. "His revenge was taken and now he can rest in peace," Iranian television said.

 

Friction between Iran and the United States rose after Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, approved by his predecessor Barack Obama, and reimposed sanctions on Tehran to slash its oil exports.

 

In his speech on Wednesday, Khamenei ruled out resuming talks with Washington on the pact.

 

Hours after the Iranian missile strike, a Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board.

 

A Canadian security source said the initial assessment of Western intelligence agencies is that the plane was not brought down by a missile.

 

(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Baghdad, Parisa Hafezi and Babak Dehghanpisheh in Dubai, Phil Stewart, Steve Holland, Jeff Mason, Matt Spetalnick and Eric Beech in Washington,; Writing by Alistair Bell and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by William Maclean and Howard Goller)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-01-09

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[baansgr]

Philippine News last night was reporting 80 US military were killed....anyone else heard anything.

[cyril sneer]

The left won’t be happy with this 

[ezzra]

Iran responded with somewhat measured and restrained retaliation mostly for their public consumption to be seen as exerting revenge for the assenination, now knowing full well who they're dealing with and that Trump is one locco unpredictable president capable of hurting them badly again and again, so in a sense nothing has really changed here and when and if Iran will see an opportunity to attack again, they will and Trump will pay back in kind...

[beechguy]

58 minutes ago, baansgr said:

Philippine News last night was reporting 80 US military were killed....anyone else heard anything.

They listened to Iranian news, nobody else reported any casualties. This was just a little temper tantrum to satisfy the Jihadis.

[Jingthing]

Iran is winning the long game. 

Takeover of Iraq (largely done).

The U.S. public (both parties) wants to leave Iraq anyway.

Excellent missiles.

Nuclear program progressing much faster than if under the nuclear deal which 45 irrationally trashed.

Proxy wars continue in many places.

Iran knows it's advantage is not conventional warfare. 

They have the power to do serious damage inside the U.S. anytime they want. They don't want to because it wouldn't be worth the cost, but again, they're winning the long game, and it's not really that long.

For 45, the game is about the daily news cycle and creating propaganda for his reelection.

[Cryingdick]

10 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Iran is winning the long game. 

Takeover of Iraq (largely done).

The U.S. public (both parties) wants to leave Iraq anyway.

Excellent missiles.

Nuclear program progressing much faster than if under the nuclear deal which 45 irrationally trashed.

Proxy wars continue in many places.

Iran knows it's advantage is not conventional warfare. 

They have the power to do serious damage inside the U.S. anytime they want. They don't want to because it wouldn't be worth the cost, but again, they're winning the long game, and it's not really that long.

For 45, the game is about the daily news cycle and creating propaganda for his reelection.

 

Lots of theories spoken as facts... You sound like you certainly hope Iran wins. The quicker the better with the election coming up. Let's watch the world opinion on Iran change as suspicions are becoming stronger about that plane being shot down. Refusing to hand over the black box isn't a sexy optic. 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2020 by Cryingdick

[Boon Mee]

 The TDS infused certainly do hope that there is a Benghazi-type of development between now and Trump's reelection in November.. Fortunately, Trump has Iran cornered and essentially out of options. 

[stevenl]

2 hours ago, cyril sneer said:

The left won’t be happy with this 

Nonsense. Iran pretended to hit back at US. The dust has settled, time to move on.

[Tug]

Jingthing I think you hit the nail on the head trumps hamfisted handling of this is definitely working in Iran’s favor the Iranians are a very old culture lots and lots of experience down through the centuries and along comes some rich loud mouthed dandy who do you think will win in the long run pretty obvious to me I wish it were otherwise but I doubt it

[TopDeadSenter]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Iran is winning the long game. 

Takeover of Iraq (largely done).

The U.S. public (both parties) wants to leave Iraq anyway.

Excellent missiles.

Nuclear program progressing much faster than if under the nuclear deal which 45 irrationally trashed.

Proxy wars continue in many places.

Iran knows it's advantage is not conventional warfare. 

They have the power to do serious damage inside the U.S. anytime they want. They don't want to because it wouldn't be worth the cost, but again, they're winning the long game, and it's not really that long.

For 45, the game is about the daily news cycle and creating propaganda for his reelection.

Should we airlift them some more pallets of cash?

 

Trump won. No wonder the left are hurting. BTW wanting the US to lose a war because you are so overcome with hatred for the democratically elected president is not healthy IMHO.

[Lungstib]

With hundreds of target scattered all over the Middle East and even farther, Iran has a lot of options especially as they will be patient and use guerrilla tactics. What they dont want is all out conventional war. Trump almost surely knows that the US public wont stand for another M.E. war and it would ruin his election chances. In his typical style he starts something, then stops it, then claims victory even if there isn't one. At the moment both sides see the importance of not going too far toward serious war. Its a waiting game. 

[Cryingdick]

2 minutes ago, Lungstib said:

With hundreds of target scattered all over the Middle East and even farther, Iran has a lot of options especially as they will be patient and use guerrilla tactics. What they dont want is all out conventional war. Trump almost surely knows that the US public wont stand for another M.E. war and it would ruin his election chances. In his typical style he starts something, then stops it, then claims victory even if there isn't one. At the moment both sides see the importance of not going too far toward serious war. Its a waiting game. 

 

If they do that the leaders of Iran will be targeted. The USA isn't messing around with little brainwashed wannabe jihadists now. It's Khomeini's head from here on out.

[Inepto Cracy]

2 hours ago, baansgr said:

Philippine News last night was reporting 80 US military were killed....anyone else heard anything.

Yes I did from mil intel sources. You wont see this in fake news or the fake replies from people who are not up to date on world happenings.

[rabas]

Just now, Inepto Cracy said:

Yes I did from mil intel sources. You wont see this in fake news or the fake replies from people who are not up to date on world happenings.

Please site your sources for such an unlikely claim. Irani mil sources or RT?

 

[Benmart]

2 hours ago, baansgr said:

Philippine News last night was reporting 80 US military were killed....anyone else heard anything.

I do my own research and certainly don't rely on this forum of for gossip, rumour and quesswork.

[LawrenceN]

18 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Should we airlift them some more pallets of cash?

 

Trump won. No wonder the left are hurting. BTW wanting the US to lose a war because you are so overcome with hatred for the democratically elected president is not healthy IMHO.

Is that what the voices in your head told you? I'm liberal and glad to see this blow over. Either you imagine what I think, or you follow news written by people who imagine it, without actual input. Try reading some actual news.

[neeray]

31 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

BTW wanting the US to lose a war because you are so overcome with hatred for the democratically elected president is not healthy IMHO.

Neither is starting a major war (or another war) just to help win a second term as POTUS.

Not healthy, definitely NOT.

 

"We'll see. We'll see how it turns out"

[stevenl]

34 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Should we airlift them some more pallets of cash?

 

Trump won. No wonder the left are hurting. BTW wanting the US to lose a war because you are so overcome with hatred for the democratically elected president is not healthy IMHO.

The left are hurting? Wanting to lose a war? What a load of codswallop, as big as it gets.

[LomSak27]

Declare Victory and move on.

 

Trump wanted to get out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria However do all then get in a war with Iran?  Probably not a winner.  

 

 

[Nyezhov]

Damn the Don is good. Now get our troops out of there. 

[steven100]

Just now, Nyezhov said:

Damn the Don is good. Now get our troops out of there. 

I think your correct, he has played his cards well this time round

[newatthis]

18 minutes ago, steven100 said:

I think your correct, he has played his cards well this time round

Probably wiser heads in Washington have prevailed.

[Tug]

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Should we airlift them some more pallets of cash?

 

Trump won. No wonder the left are hurting. BTW wanting the US to lose a war because you are so overcome with hatred for the democratically elected president is not healthy IMHO.

Accusing one of treason against their country because they think trump acted rashly is pure 100% bs and I find it particularly offensive coming from a foreigner

[Chomper Higgot]

5 minutes ago, newatthis said:

Probably wiser heads in Washington have prevailed.

I suspect his bone spurs flared up.

 

He’s made threats and backed down. 

 

American allies have openly distanced themselves from this mess of his making.

 

[Tug]

30 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Damn the Don is good. Now get our troops out of there. 

Exactly what Iran wants!

[Nyezhov]

7 minutes ago, newatthis said:

Probably wiser heads in Washington have prevailed.

Well, the one who made the decision is the wisest head so its good to see folks putting aside their irrational hate to stand behind our Presidents decision.

[URMySunshine]

If one could be bothered (which I can't) you could no doubt go through Trump's previous bluster and his supporters here to see what 'gates of hell will be released' rhetoric they were punting in the last few days. Now they just repeat empty slogans and try to pass them off as truth. FAKE VIEWS. 

[Nyezhov]

1 minute ago, Tug said:

Exactly what Iran wants!

And exactly what Obama and Trump promised. But only one will keep that promise.

[neeray]

5 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I suspect his bone spurs flared up.

 

He’s made threats and backed down. 

 

American allies have openly distanced themselves from this mess of his making.

 

"He’s made threats and backed down." 

And now, any other country that he makes threats against will just laugh him off.

 

Hello Kim!