Tag: Iran

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Trump: “We Were Cocked And Loaded” Before Calling Off Iran Strike

Donald Trump

President Trump tweeted Friday morning that the United States military was “cocked and loaded” for a strike against Iran on Thursday night, but that he reversed himself 10 minutes to ‘go time’ after a general informed him 150 people would probably die in the attack.

I believe the two phrases Glorious Leader was mangling were “locked and loaded” and “guns were cocked.”

From the New York Times:

The president said in a series of tweets just after 9 a.m. that he was prepared to retaliate against three sites in Iran for that country’s shooting down an American drone, but that he was “in no hurry.” He indicated that the death of 150 Iranians would not be “proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.”

It was unclear why Mr. Trump would have been getting information about possible casualties so late in the process of launching military action. Such information is typically discussed early in the deliberations between a president and national security officials.

Trump also indicated that new sanctions have been imposed on Iran, but didn’t go into detail.

Folks on both sides of the political spectrum criticized Trump for the strike and reversal.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt: “The failure to respond to this kind of direct provocation that we’ve seen now from the Iranians, in particular over the last several weeks, could in fact be a very serious mistake.”

And in the Twitterverse:

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Trump Didn’t Know About His Administration’s ‘Global Campaign’ To Decriminalize Homosexuality

Donald Trump

Donald Trump appeared to be surprised his administration announced a global campaign calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality around the world.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced the new initiative that would address the 71 countries, primarily in the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean, where homosexuality is illegal.

U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who is the most prominent openly gay man in the Trump administration, has been announced to lead the charge to repeal anti-homosexuality laws.

But Trump seemed unaware of the campaign when asked about it on Wednesday during a gaggle with reporters in the Oval Office.

According to The Washington Examiner, a reporter broached the subject about Trump’s “push to decriminalize homosexuality around the world,” asking, “Are you doing that and why?”

“I don’t know which report you’re talking about,” replied Trump. “We have many reports.”

Vice President Mike Pence, who has a long history of anti-LGBTQ positions and policies, confirmed with The Washington Blade that he is aware of, and supports, the new initiative.

The new policy will highlight the dismal human rights record of Iran. The Jerusalem Post recently reported the public execution by hanging of a gay man in the Middle Eastern country.

Earlier this month, Pence specifically called Iran out during a speech in Warsaw, Poland.

“The authoritarian regime in Tehran represses the freedom of speech and assembly, it persecutes religious minorities, brutalizes women, executes gay people, and openly advocates the destruction of the State of Israel,” said Pence.

“The Ayatollah Khamenei himself has said, ‘It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map.’”

Some have speculated that the ‘human rights violations’ focus is an attempt to bring more European countries onboard in Donald Trump’s push to undermine the current regime in Iran.

It’s unclear how the Trump administration will broach the subject with some Middle Eastern countries who are close allies of the U.S.

For instance, Trump has shown much deference to Saudi Arabia, where being gay is punishable by death.

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Trump Administration To Launch Global Campaign To End Criminalization Of Homosexuality (Whaaat?)

LGBTQ advocates and activists were surprised (to say the least) today by the news that the Trump administration plans to launch a global campaign aimed at ending the criminalization of homosexuality in countries where it’s still illegal to be gay.
Donald Trump

LGBTQ advocates and activists were surprised (to say the least) today by the news that the Trump administration plans to launch a global campaign aimed at ending the criminalization of homosexuality in countries where it’s still illegal to be gay.

NBC News was first to report the effort, to be led by U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, which was apparently sparked by reports of a 31-year-old man being executed via hanging in Iran on allegations of same-sex activity.

Iran has long been seen as a high-priority opponent for the Trump administration.

Grennell, who is openly gay, will reportedly host a ‘strategy dinner’ tonight in Berlin with the U.S. embassy flying in LGBTQ activists from several European countries.

The focus of the campaign will be concentrated in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

An official involved in planning the event tonight told NBC News, “It is concerning that, in the 21st century, some 70 countries continue to have laws that criminalize LGBTI status or conduct.”

The initiative will not be a broad, LGBTQ civil rights campaign but a tightly focused message on criminalization.

It’s not apparent that the new initiative represents a change of heart towards the gay community by the Trump administration.

Grenell has been a longtime critic of Iran, and while the Trump White House has managed to implement increased penalties against Iran, European allies have been slow to join in. Some see shifting the conversation on Iran to issues of human rights violations as a way to encourage Europe to come to the table.

The ambassador penned an op-ed for German news outlet Bild last month, calling news of the hanging a “wake-up call for anyone who supports basic human rights.”

“This is not the first time the Iranian regime has put a gay man to death with the usual outrageous claims of prostitution, kidnapping, or even pedophilia,” wrote Grenell. “And it sadly won’t be the last time they do it either. Barbaric public executions are all too common in a country where consensual homosexual relationships are criminalized and punishable by flogging and death.”

It’s notable that a global message denouncing the criminalization of homosexuality will also put the White House on a collision course with several close allies of the United States. Countries like Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Oman all have a history of targeting the LGBTQ community.

Saudi Arabia, which Donald Trump has shown great deference, currently has laws that make being gay punishable by death.

According to LGBTQ rights website Equaldex, there are currently 73 countries – primarily in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia – where homosexuality is illegal.

Since taking office, Donald Trump and his administration have attacked the LGBTQ community numerous times from attempting to discharge HIV+ soldiers and ban transgender military service members, to supporting laws that would allow legal discrimination against LGBTQ people, to fighting trans rights to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity.

The Human Rights Campaign keeps an up-to-date list of the many ways Trump has worked to undermine LGBTQ rights here.

Advocacy group GLAAD expressed its skepticism at the seemingly sudden change of heart towards LGBTQ people by the Trump administration tweeting, “We’d believe that the Trump administration will work to protect LGBTQ people around the world if they had not attacked LGBTQ people in the U.S. over 90 times since taking office.”

And the Human Rights Campaign tweeted several examples of the kinds of attacks on the LGBTQ community by the Trump/Pence administration.

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Trump Calls His Own Intelligence Community “Naive” Suggesting They Should “Go Back To School”

Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Intelligence community today using language like "passive" and "naive," and then closing with, "Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!"
Donald Trump

Donald Trump pushed back against recent assessments by his own intelligence have come to conclusions regarding Iran and North Korea that don’t align with what he wants to hear.

From the New York Times:

A new American intelligence assessment of global threats has concluded that North Korea is unlikely to give up its nuclear stockpiles and that Iran is not, for now, taking steps necessary to make a bomb, directly contradicting the rationale of two of President Trump’s foreign policy initiatives.

Those conclusions are part of an annual “Worldwide Threat Assessment” released on Tuesday that also stressed the growing cyberthreat from Russia and China, which it said were now “more aligned than at any point since the mid-1950s.”

Trump’s answer was to attack the U.S. Intelligence community today using language like “passive” and “naive,” and then closing with, “Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!”

Note the wrong use of ‘There economy’ in his tweet as he says others should go back to school.

Let’s check in with the Twitterverse, shall we? Starting with former CIA Director John Brennan:

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Trump Tweets Caps-Locked Rant At Country That Can’t See Twitter

Donald Trump

Donald Trump shocked many last night as he tweeted a full-on, caps-lock threat to Iran.

According to newspaper reports, Iran’s President Rouhani urged Trump to make peace with Iran.

Rouhani is quoted as saying “American must understand well that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”

Rouhani went on to warn Trump to stop “playing with the lion’s tail” and threatening Iran, “or else you will regret it.”

And so, the Trumpster’s tiny fingers tapped out, “To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!”

It’s not clear who Trump was trying to impress with his swagger as Twitter has been banned in Iran since 2009. So, the folks there weren’t reading this.

The Twitterverse immediately assumed some bad news is about to come down Trump’s pike and this was a case of ‘wag the dog.’

As we all know, Trump has tweeted the idea of threatening war with Iran as a distraction many times in the past.

There’s always a tweet.

More from the tweet people:

Some Twitterers took the missive for the unhinged musing that it is and just inserted song lyrics at random:

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Trump Announces U.S. Will Withdraw From Iran Nuclear Agreement

Donald Trump

Donald Trump announced today that the United States will be leaving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The 2015 agreement between the United States, Iran, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, China, Russia and the European Union eased sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbing its nuclear program.

In withdrawing from the nuclear deal, Trump says the U.S. will reinstate “the highest level” of sanctions against Iran.

Responding to the news, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told his country, “I have ordered Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization to be ready to restart industrial nuclear activities in case we feel it is needed.”

In a rare public expression of disagreement, former President Obama issued a statement which read, in part, “The consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America’s credibility, and puts us at odds with the world’s major powers.”

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White House Condemns Recent Actions By Iran: “We Are Officially Putting Iran On Notice”

National Security Advisor Michael Flynn says U.S. condemns recent actions by Iran regarding missile incidents: “As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice.”

Read the full statement below (click image to enlarge):

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Colin Powell Announces Support For Iran Nuclear Agreement

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell told NBC’s Chuck Todd of “Meet the Press” that he supports President Obama’s Nuclear deal for Iran currently being debated in Congress.

Powell said the opponents of the proposal were ignoring the rapid development of Iran’s nuclear program dating back to the Bush years.

“They have been on a superhighway for the last 10 years to create a nuclear weapon or a nuclear weapons program, with no speed limit. And in the last 10 years they have gone from 136 centrifuges up to something like 19,000 centrifuges. This agreement will bring them down to 5,000 centrifuges, all of them under [International Atomic Energy Agency] supervision. And I think this is a good outcome.”

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Maryland Sen. Mikulski Becomes 34th Vote For President Obama’s Iran/Nuclear Agreement

With the announcement by Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, who says she will be the 34th U.S. Senator to vote for President Obama’s Iran/Nuclear deal, Obama gets his foreign policy legacy.

From Huffington Post:

Under the deal, Iran would be subjected to comprehensive inspections on its nuclear program and forced to reduce current uranium stockpiles and the number of its centrifuges. In exchange, it will be granted sanctions relief estimated to be anywhere between $50 billion and $150 billion. But the deal phases out between years 10 and 15, albeit with Iran still forced to provide some access for inspections for another 10 years thereafter. And even for supporters of the initiative, concerns remain about the possibilities of a quick military breakout once restrictions ease.

Faced with this pushback, the administration has implored lawmakers to consider the alternative, in which no restrictions are placed on Iran and the world community is unwilling to rework the accord. A briefing between ambassadors and officials from the other countries party to the deal — in which they articulated their reluctance to head back to the negotiating table — was highly persuasive to several Democratic senators.

Almost every current GOP candidate for president has said they would kill the agreement upon being sworn into office.

Whether such statements can become a reality as so simply stated are another matter. Reneging on an international agreement involving several nations could be more politically complex than tossing out a stump speech.

Democratic leaders say they are still working towards 40 votes in favor of the deal to help keep a resolution of disapproval from getting a vote.