President Obama tried his best to HELP Iran, but now President Trump is RUINING it!

[Dumpington]

Iran's theocratic Islamic government is certainly consistent. They always manage to do the wrong thing, at the wrong time, in the wrong place, and for the wrong reasons. Yesterday brought more evidence that this woeful streak continues.

The story first broke with reports of two oil tankers burning off the coast of Iran. Then, in an afternoon appearance before reporters in Washington, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced: “It is the assessment of the United States government that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks that occurred in the Gulf of Oman today.” Pompeo’s statement surprised no one. A month ago, National Security Adviser John Bolton cited “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” on the part of the Iranians.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Tehran when word came of the attacks. Both oil tankers are owned by the Japanese. The prime minister had flown in to try to calm things down. No such luck. Iran's government couldn’t look more guilty and/or reckless.

Just hours before the tankers were hit, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen fired a missile at Saudi Arabia's Abha airport, wounding 26 civilians. Tehran's government no doubt provided that missile. All of this comes on the heels of the recent revelation that Hezbollah, another of Iran’s stooges, had planned to launch a major terrorist attack in London in 2015. Luckily, that plot was thwarted.

Thursday’s violence is not hard to interpret. Iran’s way of pushing back against charges that it's a terrorist state is to act more like a terrorist state. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei might as well take out a Times Square billboard proclaiming that he and his gang are the bad boys of the Middle East.

President Trump came into office saying that Iran was the chief source of instability in the Middle East. That’s one reason why the U.S. pulled out of that stupid Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration. Now Tehran is doing Trump’s work for him – begging for the rest of the world to see the regime for the malicious actor it really is. This can only make it harder for the Europeans to continue to argue for sticking by the Iran nuclear deal. The claim that the deal can curb the Iranian regime’s irresponsible behavior has gone up in the smoke of those burning oil tankers.

Iran’s actions also make it harder for those defending that nation’s deadly surrogates.

Members of Congress calling on the Trump administration to stop supporting those fighting the Houthis in Yemen must feel pretty stupid right now. Ditto for the Europeans who insist that Hezbollah isn’t a terrorist organization. And the same goes for those American liberals advising our friends and foes alike to just “wait Trump out” and then the U.S. will bring back Obama's Iran deal and all will be fine. They sound just like British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin with his 1938 appeasement deal with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, promising “peace for our time.” Instead, Chamberlain's agreement was a prelude to World War II. As for the Trump administration, its response to Iran has been spot on. Pompeo’s appearance before the media was pitch perfect.

Some pundits are fearful of starting World War III - while others reflexively want to blame Iran’s actions (and everything else that goes wrong in the world) on President Trump. But so far, members of the Trump team have acted like true statesmen. They don't react; they respond. True to form, Tehran has responded stupidly. Yet, rather than freak-out, Pompeo firmly and calmly responded that the U.S. will continue to “stand with its partners and allies to safeguard global commerce and regional stability.”

That is exactly the kind of responsible, steady leadership the world needs.

 

[just4friends]

Yup! The Iranians are that dumb

When was the last time a “ship” innocent set off a war?

Let’s see ALL the facts before Congress declares war.

Gee, who really wants this conflict?

Who is going to make BILLIONS ??

 

[phrodeau]

And yet, North Korea can do no harm.

 

[phrodeau]

Russia was a threat to democracy, until Trump made Putin his friend.

North Korea was a nuclear threat, until Trump made Kim his friend.

Iran is a threat to the oil business (or Israel, take your pick). Will Trump become friends with Rouhani?

 

[Dumpington]

phrodeau writes: "Russia was a threat to democracy, until Trump made Putin his friend."

The Soviet Union was a threat to democracy until President Reagan won the Cold War and the U.S.S.R. ceased to exist. Modern Russia under Putin has been a growing threat to that region of the world, forcibly taking land away from the Ukraine during the Obama presidency (with Barack doing nothing in response). Putin has also made alliances in that region of the world with anti-American nations like Syria & Iran (which President Trump is putting on notice!)

I'm pretty sure, phrodeau, that Putin didn't like it when Trump fired 59 cruise missiles at Syria, or when he sent the U.S. Navy to the Gulf of Oman to threaten Iran! But the nuclear deal that President Obama signed with Iran? Putin definitely liked that!

"North Korea was a nuclear threat, until Trump made Kim his friend."

Both former presidents Jimmy Carter & Bill Clinton have actually travelled to North Korea, but neither one of them accomplished squat. President Trump has established a working relationship with Kim Jong-un, but he WALKED AWAY when the two leaders met in Vietnam, and our President Trump didn't feel like Kim was being serious about making a deal.

"Iran is a threat to the oil business (or Israel, take your pick). Will Trump become friends with Rouhani?"

Iran has deeply hated America ever since the presidency of Jimmy Carter, but the mullahs seemingly loved it when the Obama administration gave them that cushy nuclear deal. Israel is NOTHING like Iran - the Israelis LOVE the United States (and our current president)! Right now, it appears that President Trump is using the same carrot & the stick approach to Iran that he used with North Korea. One thing is for certain, though - he WON'T help the Iranians grow in power the way that Obama did!

 

[Dumpington]

The US military has released a video showing Iran's Revolutionary Guards removing an unexploded mine from one of the oil tankers targeted near the Strait of Hormuz. It looks very much like the Iranians are attempting to remove any evidence of their involvement in the attacks. US Central Command also released photographs showing the apparent mine, which had attached itself to the side of the ship magnetically. Two large ocean-going tankers suffered explosions, forcing their crews to abandon ship in waters between Gulf Arab states and Iran. All crew members were safely evacuated.

Navy Captain Bill Urban, a Central Command spokesman, said the Revolutionary Guard vessel was observed at 4:10 pm local time approaching the Kokuka Courageous. He said: "It was observed and recorded removing the unexploded limpet mine from the ship." He added: "The United States has no interest in engaging in a new conflict in the Middle East. However, we will defend our interests."

Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said: "Taken as a whole these unprovoked attacks present a clear threat to international peace and security, a blatant assault on the freedom of navigation and an unacceptable campaign of escalating tension by Iran."

This incident comes one month after Iranian forces allegedly used naval mines to blow holes in two oil tankers and two smaller ships off the Emirati port of Fujairah. The U.S. publicly said Iran was behind that attack, while Tehran denied responsibility.

Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, said “suspicious doesn’t begin to describe” the incident in Gulf of Oman. He previously suggested without evidence that Israel was staging the attacks to undermine Iran.

Responding to Mr Zarif's comments, Mr Pompeo said: "Foreign Minister Zarif may think this is funny but no one else in the world does."

Any fighting near the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway which transports 20 per cent of the world’s oil, would likely cause serious damage to global energy supplies. Analysts said that Iran appeared to be lashing out in order to send a message in response to those crippling US sanctions imposed by President Trump after he withdrew the US from the Obama administration's 2015 nuclear deal.

 

[DawnODay]

A few short months after Obama had completed negotiations for the Iran Nuclear Deal, resulting in the lifting of sanctions and the unfreezing of billions in Iranian assets, the Obama administration made a shady payment to Iran in the amount of $400 million. The payment was made with foreign currency and done under the cover of night. The payment also coincided with the release of four hostages and was done completely in secret. Not even Congress knew about the payments or the hostage exchange. An investigation began, and, of course, it was met with obstruction by the Obama-Biden administration. Attorney General Loretta Lynch refused to answer questions from Congress about the payments. Details of the deal weren’t classified, but the Obama-Biden administration hid key documents at a secure site to make access difficult.​

M. Margolis, Biden Claims There Wasn’t A ‘Hint of a Scandal’ During the Obama-Biden Administration, Here are Ten, PJ Media (Jun. 12, 2019).

 

[Dumpington]

DawnODay writes: "A few short months after Obama had completed negotiations for the Iran Nuclear Deal, resulting in the lifting of sanctions and the unfreezing of billions in Iranian assets, the Obama administration made a shady payment to Iran in the amount of $400 million."

President Obama feared that the Iranians were going to destroy his presidential legacy in the same way that they destroyed Jimmy Carter's presidential legacy. There was NOTHING than Iran's mullahs could do to the United States that would provoke Obama to condemn that virulently anti-American regime.

But Obama's gone, and Trump is president now - and Donald Trump does NOT fear Iran in the same way that Obama did - and the Iranians know it! Tehran has predictably denied all involvement in attacking those oil-tankers, but Trump's response is openly saying: "BULLSH*T!" The Iranian mullahs KNOW that the U.S. Democratic Party still wants to be their friend & protector, but they're also beginning to realize that the Democrats have no power to stop Trump, and liberal assurances that Trump will be gone following the 2020 elections are beginning to sound hollow.

Trump's abandonment of the Obama-administration's negotiated nuke-deal, with the restoration of sanctions on that country is working, in the sense that most countries (including those that disagree with Trump’s policy) have judged it better to maintain trade and investment ties with the US than with Iran. Iran’s oil exports are down sharply, and its economic isolation is real and growing. Iran's economy shrank by 4% in 2018 and it's projected to shrink by as much as another 6% this year. Iran's currency is plummeting. There are reports of price-hikes, shortages of food and medicine, and reduced financial transfers to Hezbollah and various militias central to Iran’s attempts to exert influence around the region.

The Iranian response to all this is to demonstrate that it will not just absorb pain - it will mete it out as well. In addition to these recent attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, Iran has sponsored a drone strike on a Saudi airport launched by Yemen’s Houthis. Despite the failure of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent attempt to mediate between the US and Iran, diplomatic prospects have arguably improved, in part because American sanctions are biting. Trump is NOT Obama. He won't give the Tehran government everything it wants in exchange for nothing. He knows how to make deals!