Trump pulls back from war with Iran
WASHINGTON, United States — President Donald Trump pulled back from the brink of war with Iran on Wednesday, saying that Tehran appeared to be "standing down" after firing missiles — without causing casualties
In a televised address to the nation from the White House, Trump emphasized there were "no Americans harmed" in the ballistic missile salvo aimed at two bases.
While he promised
The comments cooled what threatened to become an uncontrolled boiling over of tensions after Trump ordered the killing last Friday of a top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani.
In New York, the Nasdaq stock market index surged to a record high of 9,129.24.
However, the US president, facing both an impeachment trial in Congress and a tough reelection in November, defended his targeting of a man seen by many as Iran's second most influential official.
Soleimani, a national hero at home, was "the world's top terrorist
And although Trump ended his remarks with a call for peace, he opened by stating that he would never allow Iran to
He then urged European allies and other world powers to follow America's lead in abandoning an international agreement on managing the country's nuclear ambitions.
It was Trump's 2018 withdrawal from that agreement and the reimposition of crippling economic sanctions against Iran which began an intensification of tensions between the two countries.
Missiles blast bases
Iran's missiles targeted the sprawling Ain
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who earlier promised "revenge" for Soleimani, called the missiles a "slap in the face" against the United States.
He
"The question of revenge is another issue," Khamenei said in a televised speech.
Iraq's military said it also sustained no casualties. But the strike highlighted the difficult position of Iraq, caught in an ever-deepening conflict between Trump and Iran.
Iraqi President
Iran has powerful militia allies in Iraq and they said they intended to take revenge for Friday's US drone attack, in which top Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi
Late Wednesday two rockets, fired by unidentified forces, landed in the supposedly high-security Green Zone, where US and other embassies
Unusual brazenness
The brazenness of Iran's ballistic missile strike was unusual.
But as the dust settled,
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
"Iran took and concluded proportionate measures in self-defense," Zarif said on Twitter.
Iraq analyst Ramzy
That signal could either have been a face-saving measure aimed at public opinion or a way of showing Washington
Reflecting deep concerns among Trump's domestic opponents, the Democratic-led US House of Representatives scheduled a vote for Thursday on limiting the Republican president's ability to wage war against Iran without congressional approval.
US headaches in Iraq
The
Paramilitary chief Qais
Angered at the US drone strike, the Iraqi parliament has called for expulsion of American troops, sparking embarrassing confusion at the Pentagon over how to respond.
National Security Action, a Washington foreign policy think tank headed by Trump critics, said the killing of Soleimani had alienated Iraqis, united Iranians and weakened the international fight against Islamic State.
"Trump's reckless approach has created a dangerous reality in which the
Airliner crash kills 176
Separately, a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 crashed just outside Tehran after taking off bound for Kiev, killing all 176 people on board shortly after Iran launched its missiles towards Iraq.
There was no immediate suggestion of any link with the strikes but carriers including Air France, Royal Dutch Airlines and Lufthansa announced they were suspending flying though Iranian and Iraqi airspace as a precaution.
The US aviation regulator banned civil flights over Iraq, Iran and the Gulf, citing the potential for "misidentification" of aircraft. — with Maya
Saudi Arabia reveals extensive damage to key oil facilities following weekend aerial strikes that were blamed on Iran, but vows to quickly restore full production even as regional tensions soar.
Yemen's Tehran-linked Huthi rebels, who announced a sudden halt to attacks on Saudi Arabia, claims the strikes on state giant Aramco's facilities in Khurais and the world's largest oil processing facility at Abqaiq.
But Washington has pointed the finger at Tehran, condemning an "act of war" which knocked out half of Saudi Arabia's oil production and on Friday prompted US President Donald Trump to sketch out the latest in a series of economic sanctions against Iran. — AFP
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday accused his US counterpart of "inciting chaos" after President Joe Biden expressed support for protests in the wake of Mahsa Amini's death in custody.
"The remarks of the American president, who is inciting chaos, terror and the destruction of another country, serve as a reminder of the eternal words of the founder of the Islamic republic, who called America the Great Satan," Raisi says, referring to the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei.
"The enemy's plot must be countered by effective measures to resolve people's problems," Raisi adds, according to a presidency statement.
Iran has been rocked by protests since 22-year-old Amini's death on September 16, three days after she was arrested by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women. — AFP
Detained US citizen Baquer Namazi has been allowed to leave Iran and his son has been granted furlough from prison, a State Department spokesperson tells AFP, confirming their release.
"Wrongfully detained US citizen Baquer Namazi has been permitted to depart Iran, and his son Siamak, also wrongfully detained, has been granted furlough from prison," the spokesperson says. — AFP
President Joe Biden says the United States will place "further costs" on Iran in response to the violent crackdown against "peaceful protestors" in the country.
"This week, the United States will be imposing further costs on perpetrators of violence against peaceful protestors. We will continue holding Iranian officials accountable and supporting the rights of Iranians to protest freely," Biden says in a statement.
Biden says he is "gravely concerned about reports of the intensifying violent crackdown on peaceful protestors in Iran, including students and women, who are demanding their equal rights and basic human dignity."
"The United States stands with Iranian women and all the citizens of Iran who are inspiring the world with their bravery." — AFP
The United States rejects Iranian reports that Tehran's release of two detained Americans will lead to the unfreezing of Iranian funds abroad.
Baquer Namazi, 85, was permitted to leave Iran for medical treatment abroad, and his son Siamak, 50, was released from detention in Tehran, the United Nations said on Saturday.
Now Iran is awaiting the release of about $7 billion in funds frozen abroad, Iranian state media says.
"With the finalisation of negotiations between Iran and the United States to release the prisoners of both countries, $7 billion of Iran's blocked resources will be released," the state news agency IRNA says.
But the US State Department dismissed any such link as "categorically false."
"Baquer Namazi was unjustly detained in Iran and then not permitted to leave the country after serving his sentence, despite his repeated requirement for urgent medical attention," a department spokesperson says. — AFP
Iran's foreign minister said Sunday that Washington is "imposing new conditions" in the negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement.
"On the issue of lifting sanctions, they (the Americans) are interested in proposing and imposing new conditions outside the negotiations," state news agency IRNA quoted Hossein Amir-Abdollahian as saying.
"In the last two or three weeks, the American side has made excessive demands that contradict some paragraphs of the text," he added.
Iran has been engaged for a year in negotiations with France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China directly, and the United States indirectly in the Austrian capital to revive the deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). -- AFP
- Latest
- Trending