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President Trump: We’ve Shot Down an Iranian Drone Threating U.S. Marines

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Speaking from the White House Thursday afternoon, President Trump announced the United States shot down an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz after it approached the USS Boxer carrying 2,000 Marines. The USS Boxer is an amphibious assault ship.

“The Boxer took defense action against the drone which had closed into a very close distance, approximately a thousand yards, ignoring multiple calls to stand down and was threatening the safety of the ship and the ship’s crew. The drone was immediately destroyed,” Trump said from the East Room. “This is the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters. The United States reserves the right to defend our personnel, facilities, and interests, and calls upon all nations to condemn Iran’s attempt to disrupt freedom of navigation and global commerce. I also call on other nations to protect their ships as they go through the Strait of Hormuz and to work with us in the future.”

(Read more from “President Trump: We’ve Shot Down an Iranian Drone Threating U.S. Marines” HERE)

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Iran Gives World Powers an Ultimatum to Avoid a Nuclear War

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Iran announced on Sunday they were hours away from breaching another aspect of the 2015 nuclear deal that was established. The country is planning to increase its amount of uranium enrichment, putting them over the cap established cap. This puts Iran closer to establishing a nuclear bomb, although they still have a ways to go, the New York Times reported.

The move is part of a bigger plan. According to Deputy Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, Iran will continue to increase accord limits over 60-day intervals until their country receives sanction relief. . .

In violating the limits on uranium enrichment, Tehran still remains far from producing a nuclear weapon. It would take a major production surge, and enrichment to far higher levels, for Iran to develop a bomb’s worth of highly enriched uranium, experts say. It would take even longer to manufacture that material into a nuclear weapon.

But for Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, who signaled in May that he would order the country’s engineers to cross both thresholds if Europe did not compensate Iran for American sanctions, the breach of the enrichment limit would be a watershed. He is betting that the United States will back away from crushing sanctions or that he can split European nations from the Trump administration, which the Europeans blame for setting off the crisis.

(Read more from “Iran Gives World Powers an Ultimatum to Avoid a Nuclear War” HERE)

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Effort to ‘Hamstring’ President Trump’s War Powers Against Iran Fails in Senate

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An amendment designed to limit President Donald Trump’s ability to use military force against Iran failed in the Senate on Friday after failing to meet the 60-vote threshold for legislation.

After a lengthy 10-hour vote, the resolution fell short of the necessary 60-vote threshold for passage.

The amendment was authored and put forward by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., who said on the Senate floor Thursday that the president’s “reckless diplomacy” amid recent tensions with the Islamic dictatorship “is dangerously reminiscent of the run up to the war with Iraq.”

Voting on the amendment — which would have required President Trump to seek congressional approval before taking military action against Iran — began at 5 a.m. and was held open through the afternoon in order to allow for some senators with early flights to leave for their weeklong Independence Day recess and others to return from this week’s Democratic debates in Miami. This ended up setting a record for longest Senate vote in modern history.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., warned on the floor Thursday that the “timing couldn’t be worse” for the amendment, given the current state of affairs, adding that the amendment was redundant to the provisions in the Constitution and would send the wrong message.

“The redundancy is actually damaging,” Rubio explained. “It’s only going to reinforce this belief among some in the regime that they can go further than they can.”

The senator went on to say that the amendment “increases the chance of war” because it could encourage the Iranian regime to “miscalculate” and attack thinking that the United States is constrained.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the amendment “dangerous” Friday, saying that it would “hamstring the executive branch from reacting quickly in a crisis and prevent the U.S. from taking decisive action.”

“We don’t want war with Iran,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., in a statement. “I agree with the president’s restraint, but if Iran threatens to attack again, we should leave all options open.”

The only Senate Republicans who voted for the measures were Mike Lee, Utah; Rand Paul, Ky.; Jerry Moran, Kan.; and Susan Collins, Maine. Paul and Lee are longtime proponents of reclaiming Congress’ constitutional war powers from the executive branch. Last year, Lee was one of the key sponsors of a high-profile Senate amendment to restrict the U.S. involvement in the ongoing conflict in Yemen over constitutional concerns.

“The Constitution is clear: Only Congress can declare war,” said Paul in a statement about the amendment. “For too long, Congress has largely ceded the most important of its responsibilities to presidents of both parties.”

On Monday, President Trump hit Iran with new sanctions in response to Iran’s shooting down an American drone last week.

“The Supreme Leader of Iran is one who ultimately is responsible for the hostile conduct of the regime. He’s respected within his country,” the president said of Monday’s sanctions. “Sanctions imposed through the executive order that I’m about to sign will deny the Supreme Leader and the Supreme Leader’s Office, and those closely affiliated with him and the office, access to key financial resources and support.”

Trump signed off on the sanctions days after he said he called off a retaliatory airstrike against Iranian assets in response to the drone being shot down. (For more from the author of “Effort to ‘Hamstring’ President Trump’s War Powers Against Iran Fails in Senate” please click HERE)

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Iran Calls Trump ‘Mentally Retarded.’ Trump Gives Them a Friendly Reminder.

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On Tuesday, after Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani attacked President Trump, saying the White House’s actions show that Trump is “mentally retarded,” Trump fired back with a series of tweets warning Iran that if they attack anything American, that action would be met with “great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration. No more John Kerry & Obama!”

Trump’s series of tweets slammed the Iranian regime, warning it not to mess with American power, as he wrote, “Iran leadership doesn’t understand the words “nice” or “compassion,” they never have. Sadly, the thing they do understand is Strength and Power, and the USA is by far the most powerful Military Force in the world, with 1.5 Trillion Dollars invested over the last two years alone.”

(Read more from “Iran Calls Trump ‘Mentally Retarded.’ Trump Gives Them a Friendly Reminder.” HERE)

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Pompeo Arrives in Middle East to Build ‘Global Coalition’ Against Iran

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By Breitbart. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the Middle East this week to build a “global coalition” against Iran amid intensified tensions between Washington and Tehran.

The likelihood of a military confrontation between Iran and the United States has increased in recent days, notably after Iranian troops shot down an American drone last week. . .

Before leaving the U.S. capital for the Middle East, Pompeo told reporters that he would talk with the two U.S. Sunni Arab allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE:

[A]bout how to make sure that we are all strategically aligned and how we can build out a global coalition, a coalition not only throughout the Gulf states but in Asia and in Europe that…is prepared to push back against the world’s largest state sponsor of terror.

Echoing President Trump, Pompeo noted that the United States is willing to negotiate with Iran without preconditions to ease tensions between the two longtime rivals. Iran, however, has indicated it is not interested in dialogue. (Read more from “Pompeo Arrives in Middle East to Build ‘Global Coalition’ Against Iran” HERE)

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Iran Says Latest US Sanctions Ends ‘Channel of Diplomacy Forever’

By Fox News. A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a tweet Tuesday that the new U.S. sanctions that target Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranian officials permanently end any chance of diplomacy between countries.

The U.S. and Iran have seen tensions increase exponentially in the past few weeks after an initial U.S. sanctions squeeze that Washington said led to the attacks on two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The situation became increasingly dire last week after Tehran admitted to downing a $100 million U.S. Navy drone.

Abbas Mousavi took to Twitter to call out President Trump’s latest decision to impose additional sanctions and said the sanctions means “closing channel of diplomacy forever,” according to Reuters.

“Trump’s desperate administration is destroying the established international mechanisms for maintaining world peace and security,” the tweet read. (Read more from “Iran Says Latest US Sanctions Ends ‘Channel of Diplomacy Forever'” HERE)

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Trump Approved Military Action Against Iran, Then Called Strike Off

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President Donald Trump reportedly approved a military strike against Iran on Thursday, and, with planes in the air and ships in position, the strike was reportedly pulled back at the last minute.

“As late as 7 p.m. Thursday, military and diplomatic officials were expecting a strike, after intense discussions and debate at the White House among the president’s top national security officials and congressional leaders, according to multiple senior administration officials involved in or briefed on the deliberations,” The New York Times reported.

“Officials said the president had initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries,” The Times continued. “The operation was underway in its early stages when it was called off, a senior administration official said. Planes were in the air and ships were in position, but no missiles had been fired when word came to stand down, the official said.” . . .

Navy Capt. Bill Urban, U.S. Central Command spokesman, said in a statement: “CENTCOM confirms that a U.S. Navy drone was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile system while operating in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz at approximately 11:35 p.m. GMT on June 19, 2019. Iranian reports that the aircraft was over Iran are false. This was an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset in international airspace.”

“Congressional Democrats emerged from the president’s classified briefing in the Situation Room and urged Mr. Trump to de-escalate the situation,” The Times added. “They called on the president to seek congressional authorization before taking any military action.”

(Read more from “Trump Approved Military Action Against Iran, Then Called Strike Off” HERE)

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Ilhan Omar Goes All in to Defend World’s Leading State Sponsor of Terrorism

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Far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) repeatedly advocated for Iran — the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism — on Thursday, tweeting multiple times that the United States should not take action against Iran, even as Iran has repeatedly attacked cargo ships in the area and shot down a U.S. military drone this week.

Omar then falsely suggested that the U.S. was the “aggressor” in the situation with Iran, completely ignoring Iran’s multiple attacks on oil tankers in the region in recent weeks and Iran’s decision to shoot down a military drone this week. . .

Later in her tweet thread, Omar wrote: “So I urge you: be strong. Do not listen to the warmongers and war profiteers whispering in your ear. Do not send our men and women into harm’s way. And I urge the American people to make your voice heard. Organize. Call your member of Congress. Let all our leaders know that a war with Iran would be a catastrophe. #NoWarOnIran”

(Read more from “Ilhan Omar Goes All in to Defend World’s Leading State Sponsor of Terrorism” HERE)

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President Trump Sends Ominous Warning to Iran After U.S. Drone Was Shot Down

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President Donald Trump on Thursday responded with a warning after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard shot down a U.S. drone.

Taking to Twitter, the president declared Iran has “made a very big mistake!”

According to the Associated Press, the Iranian military said it shot down a RQ-4 Global Hawk drone over Iranian airspace. Revolutionary Guard commander General Hossein Salami commented that the shooting of the drone was intended to send “a clear message” to America and added that Iran does “not have any intention for war with any country, but we are ready for war.”

The U.S. says the drone was shot down over international airspace in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military’s central command characterized the incident as an “unprovoked attack.”

The attack on the drone comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran, just days after the Trump administration says Iran attacked two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. President Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., have been the most outspoken proponents of threatening retaliatory military action against Iran. The president himself has reportedly shown skepticism about military intervention in Iran, calling the oil tanker attack “very minor.”

Could the president’s tweet mean his position has changed? (For more from the author of “President Trump Sends Ominous Warning to Iran After U.S. Drone Was Shot Down” please click HERE)

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Mike Pompeo: Trump Does Not Want War with Iran

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By Breitbart. . .[Mike] Pompeo said, “President Trump had sent President Abe to take a message of his to the leadership in Iran. You have to remember, these are messages for the leadership. I think the Iranian people are being misserved by that leadership, but yes, we’re engaged in — we have been engaged in many messages, even this moment right here, communicating to Iran that we are there to deter aggression. President Trump does not want war. And we will continue to communicate that message while doing the things that are necessary to protect American interests in the region.” (Read more from “Mike Pompeo: Trump Does Not Want War with Iran” HERE)

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Trump: Alleged Iranian Oil Tanker Attacks ‘Very Minor’

By USA Today. In an interview posted this week, President Donald Trump contradicted his top advisers on the threat posed by Iran, saying recent attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman were “very minor.”

“So far, it’s been very minor,” Trump told TIME, discussing two attacks on oil tankers that he and other administration officials have blamed on Iran. The regime has denied responsibility for the attacks.

Just last week, Trump had told Fox and Friends that, “We don’t take it lightly, that I can tell you,” in reference to the alleged attacks

When asked if he was currently considering military action against Iran, Trump replied, “I wouldn’t say that. I can’t say that at all.”

“I would certainly go over nuclear weapons,” Trump said when asked what would prompt him to go to war against Iran, “and I would keep the other a question mark.” (Read more from “Trump: Alleged Iranian Oil Tanker Attacks ‘Very Minor'” HERE)

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Pentagon Approves Sending 1,000 More Troops to Mideast After Oil Tanker Attack

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U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) released new images Monday showing the aftermath of mine attacks against two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week, including some images purporting to show Iranian forces removing an unexploded device from the hull of one of the vessels.

Hours later, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said he had approved a request from CENTCOM to send approximately 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East “to address air, naval, and ground-based threats” in the region.

“The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region,” Shanahan said. “The United States does not seek conflict with Iran. The action today is being taken to ensure the safety and welfare of our military personnel working throughout the region and to protect our national interests.”

The military says that some of the 11 new images taken from a Navy helicopter show members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy removing a limpet mine from the side of the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous oil tanker. Other photos show a large hole on the side of the Courageous, above the water line, that officials say appears to have been caused by another mine.

In a statement, Central Command reaffirmed the Trump administration’s previous claim that Iran was responsible for the attacks on the Kokuka Courageous and the Front Altair “based on video evidence and the resources and proficiency needed to quickly remove the unexploded limpet mine.” (Read more from “Pentagon Approves Sending 1,000 More Troops to Mideast After Oil Tanker Attack” HERE)

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