Posted on 12/31/2019 3:17:01 PM PST by robowombat
Trump threatens Iran over embassy incident, which he calls the 'Anti-Benghazi' BY BRETT SAMUELS - 12/31/19 04:49 PM EST
President Trump threatened Iran after demonstrators, including members of an Iranian-backed militia, breached the walls of the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday.
"Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities," Trump tweeted. "They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!"
Trump declared that the embassy in Iraq was safe thanks to the deployment of U.S. military resources and a "rapid response" from the Iraqi government.
He called the incident the "Anti-Benghazi" in a follow-up tweet, a reference to the 2012 attack on the U.S. compound in Libya in which two Americans were killed.
Thousands of members and supporters of an Iranian-backed militia stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday. Some chanted "Death to America," set small fires and sprayed graffiti inside the walls of the compound. They did not enter the main buildings of the embassy.
Iraqi security forces reportedly did not intervene to stop the demonstrators from advancing until a commander arrived and issued orders.
No U.S. personnel were reported harmed amid the demonstrations, and a State Department spokesperson denied that evacuations were taking place.
The president earlier Tuesday tweeted that he held Iran responsible for the incident at the embassy.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran spiked over the weekend after the Trump administration blamed the Iranian-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah militia for an attack that killed a U.S. contractor and wounded four U.S. service members.
In response, the U.S. carried out airstrikes Sunday against five Kata'ib Hezbollah targets in Iraq and Syria that killed at least 25 militia fighters.
The chaos at the embassy has renewed concerns among some U.S. lawmakers about the potential for conflict with Iran heading into the new year, and Trump's tweet was reminiscent of some of his messages throughout 2019 when the two countries appeared on the verge of conflict.
In June, Trump tweeted that U.S. forces were "cocked and loaded" before he called off a strike against Iran at the last moment in response to the downing of an American drone.
Trump in September tweeted that the U.S. was "locked and loaded" after an attack on Saudi oil facilities, an incident the administration held Iran responsible for.
But the president has been adamant about wanting to avoid further foreign entanglements and has expressed a desire to avoid war with Iran.
Still, some Democrats blamed what they view as Trump's reckless policies in the Middle East for triggering Tuesday's demonstrations at the embassy.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tweeted that embassy personnel "deserve protection from the Iraqi host government and smart, strong national security strategy from U.S. leaders. Escalation and violence must end.
Leave the place. Burn it to the ground as we do. Put it back in to the stone age (not too hard to do).
No one, no one would rub the dems faces in their own feces as Trump does and like he just did here.
We have a winner of a president!
The Iraqis are equally to blame for not providing outside security and allowing these thugs into the Green Zone. These imbeciles in the streets around the embassy could easily be dispersed with one low flying Apache gunship.
Pelosi Galore never misses an opportunity to throw some shade.
She’ll get hers one day.
Would you believe 1 Imam and a camel?
Why is Trump giving any credence to this Benghazi crap talk anyway?
Iraq is an artificial country, cobbled together like Yugoslavia.
It should be broken apart into its three natural sections (Kurdistan, the Sunni center around Baghdad, and the Shia south.
“Benghazi crap talk”
—
Huh?
“They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat.”
*****************
I’m afraid that warnings and threats won’t deter Iran. They only respect power and the willingness to use it.
They are clearly testing Trump.
In this case, the Trump Administration acknowledged something bad was happening, sent in the Marines, and called out the bad guys.
This is a great moment of distinction between these administrations. It also begs the questions: Where was Biden during Benghazi?
It used to be in times like this everyone including the Dems would rally the behind CIC. Not anymore everything is an opportunity for the rats, country be damned. They are as big an enemy as any foreign country in the world.
Agree!
Them damn Iranians better really be worried when PDJT says he is cocked, locked and ready to rock. Get ‘em.
STK.
#11 Where was Biden during Benghazi?
Groping some little girl.
Git ‘em, Mr. President!
Flatten every last Iranian embassy.
Leave no stone stacked on another....flat.
I’ve seen others around here saying this was Trumps Benghazi and it’s missing me off.
I said it and I said it at 6 am this morning when the story broke.
It was not meant to be taken literally.
It is an attack on a US embassy in the Middle East so it is similar. What is not similar is how this President will choose to handle it.
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