Trump adds to claims as new assassination attempt revealed United States
Facing persistent questions about his military actions in the Middle East, United States President Donald Trump and his top officials offered a string of fresh explanations yesterday, with Trump contending that Iranian militants had planned major attacks on four US embassies.
Just hours earlier, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said the US didn’t know when or where attacks might occur.
Trump and other officials insisted anew that Iranian general Qassem Soleimani had posed an imminent threat to the US, but they rebuffed repeated attempts to explain what they meant by ‘‘imminent’’.
Trump also announced additional sanctions against Iran, which he had promised after a barrage of missiles fired by the Islamic republic against US bases in Iraq this week. The missiles, which caused no casualties, were prompted by the drone strike that killed Soleimani.
At the White House, Trump issued an executive order adding additional US sanctions to the already long list his administration has imposed in an effort to force Iran to accept a new agreement that would curb its nuclear programme and to halt support for militant groups throughout the Middle East.
But Trump and others faced continuing questions over their claims of an ‘‘imminent’’ threat. Members of Congress have said Pompeo and other officials did not provide sufficient detail or justification in briefings this week.
Both Pompeo and Trump had said US embassies were threatjened. The secretary of state yesterday broadened it to include ‘‘American facilities’’, including military bases throughout the region. ‘‘This was going to happen, and American lives were at risk,’’ he said.
Trump gave a number but still no specifics in a later comment. ‘‘I can reveal that I believe it probably would’ve been four embassies,’’ he told Fox News.
Trump spoke amid revelations by US officials that the American military had tried but failed to kill another senior Iranian commander on the same day that Soleimani was killed.
The targeting of Abdul Reza Shahlai was apparently part of an effort to cripple the leadership of Iran’s Quds Force, which the US has designated a terror organisation along with the larger Islamic Revolutionary Guard Force.
The executive order grants the administration power to place anyone involved, even indirectly, in Iran’s construction, manufacturing, textile or mining sectors on a global financial blacklist. It also targets 17 of the largest steel and iron manufacturers, one of the few growth spots in the hobbled Iranian economy.