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A2 UP FRONT
Monday 6 January 2020
Continued from Front days, and within the next
Even a Trump ally, Sen. Lind- 10 weeks."
sey Graham, R-S.C., called Congressional Democrats
the move by Iraqi lawmak- were skeptical.
ers "a bit concerning.'' "I really worry that the ac-
In Tehran, Iranian state tions the president took will
television reported that get us into what he calls
the country will no longer another endless war in the
abide by any limits of the Middle East. He promised
2015 nuclear deal it signed we wouldn't have that,"
with the United States and said Chuck Schumer of
other world powers. Trump New York, the Senate's top
withdrew the U.S. from the Democrat.
deal in 2018 and stepped Schumer said Trump lacks
up economic sanctions on the authority to engage
Tehran — actions that ac- militarily with Iran and Con-
celerated a cycle of hos- gress needs a new war
tilities leading to the Solei- powers resolution "to be a
mani killing. check on this president." To
The State Department had which Pompeo said: "We
no immediate comment have all the authority we
on Iran reportedly aban- need to do what we've
doning the nuclear deal, a done to date." A supporter of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah wears the words "powerful revenge" on
move that holds the pros- Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., her hand, ahead of the leader's televised speech in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday,
pect of Iran accelerating said the administration vio- Jan. 5, 2020 following the U.S. airstrike in Iraq that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem
its production of materials lated the Constitution by Soleimani.
for a nuclear weapon. not consulting with Con- Associated Press
Trump continued issuing gress in advance.
warnings to Iran by tweet. "It's also important because direction. We truly do want tweet Saturday threatening will."
"These Media Posts will serve one, you potentially get to de-escalate. Everyone to attack Iranian cultural One U.S. national security
as notification to the United members of Congress to is going to lose if this con- sites, a military action that official said Trump's threat
States Congress that should buy in ahead of time, and tinues to ratchet upward. likely would be illegal under had caught many in the
Iran strike any U.S. person or two, they may ask that Can we now sit down and the laws of armed conflict administration off guard
target, the United States will hard question that's not talk," Petraeus said. and the U.N. charter. and prompted calls for
quickly & fully strike back, & asked in an insular group," Pompeo declined to say Trump wrote that if Iran others in the government,
perhaps in a disproportion- Warner said. whether he had sought were to strike "any Ameri- including Pompeo, to clar-
ate manner," he wrote Sun- Congressional staffs got to communicate with Iran cans, or American assets, ify the matter. The official,
day afternoon. "Such legal their first briefings from the since Friday. He stressed we have targeted 52 Ira- who was not authorized to
notice is not required, but is administration on Friday, the U.S. resolve to hold Iran nian sites (representing speak publicly to the issue,
given nevertheless!" and members are expect- accountable for its inter- the 52 American hostages said clarification was nec-
Democrats in Congress ed to be briefed this week. ventions in Iraq, Syria and taken by Iran many years essary to affirm that the U.S.
complained about the ad- Pompeo appeared on six elsewhere in the Mideast. ago), some at a very high military would not intention-
ministration's failure to con- news shows while Trump Pompeo said the Obama level & important to Iran & ally commit war crimes.
sult with legislative lead- kept silent on the final day administration had tried to Iranian culture, and those Oona Hathaway, an inter-
ers before conducting the of his holiday break in Flor- "challenge and attack ev- targets, and Iran itself, WILL national law professor at
drone attack Friday against ida. The appearances by erybody who was running BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY Yale and a former national
Soleimani, and the White the top American diplomat around with an AK-47 or a HARD." security law official in the
House faced a barrage appeared aimed at dis- piece of indirect artillery. Pompeo said any U.S. mili- Defense Department's le-
of questions about the kill- suading Iran from launch- We've made a very differ- tary strikes inside Iran would gal office, said in an inter-
ing's legality. Pompeo said ing a major retaliation for ent approach. We've told be legal. view that Trump's threat
the administration would the Soleimani killing. The the Iranian regime, 'Enough. "We'll behave inside the sys- amounted to "a pretty
have been "culpably neg- Iranians have said the U.S. You can't get away with us- tem," Pompeo said. "We al- clear promise of commis-
ligent" in its duty to protect should expect a strong re- ing proxy forces and think ways have and we always sion of a war crime." q
the United States if it had sponse. your homeland will be safe
not killed Soleimani, al- They have a range of op- and secure.' We're going
though he did not provide tions, from cyberattacks to to respond against the ac-
evidence for his previous military assaults. tual decision-makers, the
claims that Soleimani was It was unclear whether the people who are causing
plotting imminent attacks administration would at- this threat from the Islamic
on Americans. tempt a back door com- Republic of Iran."
Instead of arguing that an munication with Iran in He said the cost to Iran if
attack had been imminent, pursuit of its stated goal of it uses proxy forces to hit
Pompeo said it was inevi- "de-escalation" of tensions. American targets will come
table. Retired Gen. David Pe- down on no just those prox-
"We watched him con- traeus, an ex-CIA director ies, which are present in
tinue to actively build out and former commander of Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Leba-
for what was going to be U.S. forces in Iraq, said he non and elsewhere.
a significant attack – that's believes the administration "They will be borne by Iran
what we believed – and needs a strategy for tamp- and its leadership itself,"
we made the right deci- ing down the chances of Pompeo said. "Those are
sion," he said, adding later: all-out war. important things the Iranian
"We continue to prepare "I think the real question leadership needs to put in
for whatever it is the Iranian for the United States is, will its calculus as it makes its
regime may put in front of there be a diplomatic ini- next decision."
us within the next 10 min- tiative that says, OK, look, Pompeo tip-toed around
utes, within the next 10 this is not headed in a good questions about Trump's