Target backflip Defense sec’y does a 180 on Iran gen. hit
President Trump’s own defense secretary contradicted him on his rationale for ordering the killing of Iran’s top general.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday he’d never seen specific, tangible evidence that Iran was targeting four U.S. embassies — a claim Trump made Friday as justification for the targeting of Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
“I didn’t see one with regard to four embassies,” Esper said when pressed about specific threats to U.S. embassies on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Since Trump ordered the deadly Jan. 3 drone strike on Soleimani, sparking chaos in the region, he’s come under criticism for keeping lawmakers in the dark on his reasons for the killing.
“I can reveal that I believe it would have been four embassies” in Iran’s crosshairs, Trump said on “Fox News” on Friday. “It was imminent.”
After his stunning admission on CBS, Esper got back on message later Sunday.
“What the president said in regard to the four embassies is what I believe, as well,” Esper said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And he said he believed that they probably — that they could have been targeting the embassies in the region.”
He also insisted “exquisite intelligence” about the purported Iran threat had been shared with congressional leaders from both parties.
“He’s just plain wrong,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on CBS. “There was no discussion that, ‘These are the four embassies that are being targeted and we have exquisite intelligence that shows these or those are specific targets.’ ”
Trump spent Sunday ragetweeting, including a message to Iran not to kill protesters and to “let reporters roam free” as the Middle Eastern country braced for renewed protests Sunday.
“To the leaders of Iran - DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS,” he tweeted. “Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching.
“Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free!” added Trump, who’s had a contentious relationship with journalists in the U.S. “Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!”
The message came as Iranians demonstrated against their rulers over the accidental shooting Wednesday of a passenger plane. Protesters were seen in videos posted to social media shouting antigovernment slogans in Tehran.
Iran downed a Ukrainian plane, killing all 176 people onboard, after firing missiles at two U.S. bases in Iraq where American troops are stationed. That move came in retaliation to the Jan. 3 killing of Soleimani.
On Sunday in Iraq, at least six rockets reportedly hit an Iraqi base housing U.S. forces.
Four Iraqis were wounded in the attack, according to Reuters, which cited two military sources. No U.S. troops were reported as hurt.
The bombs hit a runway inside Balad air base, located about 50 miles north of Baghdad, the sources said.