Posted on 01/06/2020 5:03:12 PM PST by Eddie01
The Trump administration is barring Irans top diplomat from entering the United States this week to address the United Nations Security Council about the U.S. assassination of Irans top military official in Baghdad, violating the terms of a 1947 headquarters agreement requiring Washington to permit foreign officials into the country to conduct U.N. business, according to three diplomatic sources.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif requested a visa a few weeks ago to enter the United States to attend a Jan. 9 Security Council meeting on the importance of upholding the U.N. Charter, according to a diplomatic source familiar with the matter. The Thursday meeting was to provide Tehrans top diplomat with his first opportunity to directly address the world community since U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Jan. 3 drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, a top Iraqi militia leader, among others.
(Excerpt) Read more at foreignpolicy.com ...
I don’t think the Iranians knew for a while what became of their General, if he was abducted, if he fled the country, or what he might have taken with him. Either that or they sent him to defect and carry misinformation. Either way the analysts would take a long hard look at the defector’s gift and would have spent a lot of time interrogating the defector.
I think Bolton’s leaving a few months after the defection was a feint to give the Iranians enough rope to hang themselves. They would certainly have seen his leaving as a sign of softening, a sign Trump was a paper tiger. And believing this, they may have assumed the US got nothing of great value and continued with plans they should have considered compromised.
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