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The Trump administration is barring Iran’s top diplomat from entering the United States this week to address the United Nations Security Council about the U.S. assassination of Iran’s 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 top US general said Monday a letter suggesting the US would withdraw troops from Iraq was released by mistake and poorly worded, telling reporters "that's not what's happening." Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley sought to address the confusion that began after the leak of aletter to the Iraqi government from US Command in Baghdad suggesting US troops would be withdrawn from the country. "That letter is a draft. It was a mistake, it was unsigned, it should not have been released ... (it was) poorly worded, implies withdrawal, that is not what's happening," Milley...

The United States-led military coalition against Islamic State said on Monday that it was pulling out of Iraq and would be repositioning forces over the next few days and weeks, a letter seen by Reuters showed. "Sir, in deference to the sovereignty of the Republic of Iraq, and as requested by the Iraqi Parliament and the Prime Minister, CJTF-OIR will be repositioning forces over the course of the coming days and weeks to prepare for onward movement," read a letter from United States Marine Corps Brigadier General William H. Seely III, the commanding general of Task Force Iraq. The authenticity...

Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice made the media rounds on Friday to discuss the death of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. She repeatedly said the Trump administration "misrepresents the facts," something Benghazi annex team member Mark Geist takes issue with. "She pretty much has zero integrity in my book, but it's typical tactics from the Democrats," Geist told Fox News' Pete Hegseth on "Fox and Friends: Weekend." According to Geist, Democrats will have one person who will come out and say what they want people to hear, similar to what happened after the attack in Benghazi back in 2012. "Mark,...

TEL AVIV: Five days ago, an undisclosed intelligence agency intercepted a telephone call made by the head of Iran’s Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in which he was heard ordering his proxies in Iraq to attack the U.S embassy in Baghdad, as well as other Israeli and American targets, with the aim of taking hostages, Israeli sources say. It’s unclear whether this was a lapse in tradecraft on the part of the usually savvy Soleimani or whether the notorious Iranian military leader’s phone calls were being routinely intercepted. Nor is it clear whether it was the US or another...

Within hours of Qassem Soleimani, the leader of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a man most thought invincible and all-powerful, being confirmed dead, the debate began in Washington about the legality of the strike that killed him; of how the attack would play into the political cycle of impeachment and the 2020 presidential campaign; of what the consequences would be for any potential conflict with Iran. Yet in parts of the Middle East, the reaction was different. Soleimani was killed at about 1:00 a.m. just as he was leaving Baghdad airport and by 4:30 a.m.,...

Baghdad: Iran-backed Kataib Hizballah militia besieges US embassy, Trump says Iran “orchestrating” attack DEC 31, 2019 9:00 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER 20 COMMENTS The Islamic Republic of Iran has actively courted war with the U.S. for a long time, as is shown in The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran. The mullahs may be hoping to provoke that war now in order to distract their people from their own miserable condition and relieve the pressure that they’re under domestically. “US Embassy compound in Baghdad under siege as crowds protesting airstrikes break through gate,” by Greg Norman and Edmund DeMarche, Fox News,...

The second the first Apache attack helicopter appeared over the sovereign American territory that is the American Embassy in Baghdad, one knew that things would be different this time. We would see the difference between a President Obama resting for a fundraising trip to Las Vegas the next morning and a President Trump, having avenged the killing of an American contractor, dispatching Iran’s top general and commander of its Quds Force before he could kill any more Americans. Instead of a Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ignoring repeated warnings from her ambassador and not answering his pleas for more security,...

Iran promised to seek revenge for a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad's airport that killed the mastermind of its interventions across the Middle East, and the U.S. said Friday it was sending thousands more troops to the region as tensions soared in the wake of the targeted killing. The death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, marks a major escalation in the standoff between Washington and Iran, which has careened from one crisis to another since President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed crippling sanctions. Another airstrike almost exactly 24 hours after...

BREAKING: "Unconfirmed report that Qais Khazali, one of the people the US named as responsible for storming of US Embassy in Baghdad, has been killed in new Baghdad airstrike"

Put your Soleimani Memes here . . .

FOOTAGE has emerged of the US assassination of Iran's second most powerful man was killed after missiles were fired at his vehicle as he left Baghdad airport on Friday. The grainy video allegedly taken by Baghdad locals shows the moment the missiles struck Soleimani, two Islamic Revolutionary Guard generals and five Iraqi's as they left the airport.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that President Donald Trump has “tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox" with the targeted killing of Iran's top general in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport. The former vice president joined other Democratic White House hopefuls in criticizing Trump's order, saying it could leave the U.S. “on the brink of a major conflict across the Middle East." The Pentagon said the U.S. military killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, in Baghdad Friday at the direction of Trump. The attack is expected to draw...

BAGHDAD — Qasem Soleimani, Iranian Major general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and his Deputy General, have been killed in an airstrike at the Baghdad International airport, Iraqi media says. An engineer was also among those killed. An unknown number of rockets struck at least two vehicles belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces that were transporting the high ranking officials. Initial reports say seven people were confirmed killed but the number could rise as the vehicles and bodies were badly charred.

Iraqi TV and three Iraqi officials said Friday that Gen. Qassim Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, has been killed in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport. The officials said the strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Their deaths are a potential turning point in the Middle East and are expected to draw severe retaliation from Iran and the forces it backs in the Middle East against Israel and American interests. The PMF blamed the United States for an attack at Baghdad International Airport Friday. There...

Left-wing Hollywood figures carried their resistance rage into the new decade, dumping on President Donald Trump and wishing for a year that “doesn’t include an ignorant corrupt soulless liar occupying the People’s House.” Director Rob Reiner, for example, wished for a new year that “doesn’t include an ignorant corrupt soulless liar occupying the People’s House” — a direct reference to the president. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a 2020 that doesn’t include an ignorant corrupt soulless liar occupying the People’s House. — Rob Reiner (@robreiner) January 1, 2020 Prominent horror author Stephen King kicked off the year with...

American politics has become so nasty and so partisan, that some people, at least judging by their rhetoric, wanted Baghdad to be "Trump's Benghazi." One of those critics was MSNBC host Joy Reid. She was surprised that the White House had released a new statement about the transcripts related to his impeachment inquiry while the president's own Benghazi was occurring. Ted Cruz ✔ @tedcruz What’s wrong with you? Is partisan hatred really that deep? We root for American soldiers, not against them. https://twitter.com/joyannreid/status/1212088051037614081 …

Media figures are lying about Tuesday's attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Why? You can tell that the Obama administration’s legacy in the Middle East is in danger because the media, as the self-appointed janitors of that legacy, have gone into overdrive obfuscating the timing, context, and significance of this week’s attack on the United States embassy in Baghdad. Although President Donald Trump has gone a long way to dismantling Obama’s legacy in the region, much more remains to be done, including a halt to American taxpayer money that has been flowing into Iranian-controlled governments in Iraq and Lebanon.Earlier...

Pro-Iran militia have stormed the US embassy in Baghdad for a second day, with US marines firing tear gas on the militants this morning following demands for American blood in retaliation for airstrikes on Iraq. Yesterday thousands of demonstrators - many of them Iran-backed militants - rushed through the heavily fortified Green Zone after US air strikes killed 25 members of the Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah in air strikes Sunday night. One furious militant said: 'God willing if this fire reaches inside the embassy, we will not spare a single employee.' The pro-Iran demonstrators finally ended their siege today after commanders...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday night discussed the attacks on the United States' embassy in Baghdad with Fox News' Mike Emanuel. According to Pompeo, those who carried out the attacks are terrorists that are backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. "Well, what you say was Iranian-backed terrorists. Many of them are individuals that have been designated terrorists by the United States and others, coming to the American embassy and posing a risk to the American diplomats and personnel inside the embassy," Pompeo explained. "You saw President Trump direct a quick, decisive, prudent response by making sure that...