European troops may be in danger: Iran

TEHRAN, Jan 15, (AP): Iran’s president warned Wednesday that European soldiers in the Mideast “could be in danger” after three nations challenged Tehran over breaking the limits of its nuclear deal. Tehran’s top diplomat meanwhile acknowledged that Iranians “were lied to” for days following the Islamic Republic’s accidental shoot down of a Ukrainian jetliner that killed 176 people.

President Hassan Rouhani’s remarks in a televised Cabinet meeting represent the first direct threat he’s made to Europe as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington over President Donald Trump withdrawing the US from the deal in May 2018.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s admission, which came at a summit in New Delhi on Wednesday, represents the first time an Iranian official referred to earlier claims from Tehran that a technical malfunction downed the Ukraine International Airlines flight as a lie. The shoot down – and subsequent days of denials that a missile had downed it – sparked days of angry protests in the country.

The current tensions between Iran and the US reached feverpitch two weeks ago with the American drone strike in Baghdad that killed the powerful Revolutionary Guard Gen Qassem Soleimani. The general had led Iranian proxy forces abroad, including those blamed for deadly roadside bomb attacks on US troops in Iraq.

Iran retaliated with a ballistic missile strike targeting Iraqi military bases housing US forces early last Wednesday, just before an anti-aircraft battery shot down the Ukrainian airliner taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport. New video obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday purported to show Iran fired two surface-to-air missiles at the doomed aircraft.

Amid all of this, Britain, France and Germany launched the so-called “dispute mechanism” pertaining to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Speaking before his Cabinet, Rouhani showed a rarely seen level of anger in his wide-ranging remarks Wednesday.

“Today, the American soldier is in danger, tomorrow the European soldier could be in danger,” Rouhani said. ”We want you to leave this region but not with war. We want you to go wisely. It is to your own benefit.” Rouhani did not elaborate. European forces have been deployed alongside Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. France

also maintains a naval base in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, while Britain has opened a base in the island nation of Bahrain.

European Commission spokesman Peter Stano told reporters that officials were aware of the threats, but the European Union had no plans to leave Iraq. Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini told lawmakers his government has plans to increase Rome’s troop levels at the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 percent of all oil passes.

German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer made an unannounced visit Wednesday to the Azraq base in Jordan, where German troops serving in the fight against the Islamic State group are based. Germany wants to resume training Iraqi forces.

Rouhani separately criticized Europe’s “baseless” words regarding the nuclear deal. Iran had been holding out for Europe to offer a means by which Tehran could sell its oil abroad despite US sanctions. However, a hoped-for trading mechanism for other goods hasn’t taken hold and a French-pitched line of credit also hasn’t materialized.

Meanwhile, a Democratic senator said Tuesday he has at least 51 votes to support a bipartisan resolution asserting that President Donald Trump must seek approval from Congress before engaging in further military action against Iran.

Sen Tim Kaine of Virginia said the Senate could vote as soon as next week on the measure, which is co-sponsored by two Republican senators and has support from at least two more Republicans.

Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky have cosponsored the measure, and GOP Sens. Todd Young of Indiana and Susan Collins of Maine said Tuesday they will support it.

“We now have a majority of colleagues, Democratic and Republican, who will stand strong for the principle that we should not be at war without a vote of Congress, and that’s a very positive thing,’’ Kaine told reporters Tuesday.

The bipartisan resolution “clearly states that America can always defend itself,’’ against attack from Iran or any other country, Kaine said, “but we don’t think that this president – or any president – should send our troops into war without a vote of Congress.’’

Kaine has long pushed for congressional action reasserting congressional power to declare war, but he said Tuesday he has received renewed support after the Trump administration killed Iran’s top general earlier this month. Tehran responded to the US attack by launching missiles at two military bases in Iraq that house American troops. No serious casualties were reported.