Trump gives ominous warning as Pete Hegseth authorizes major military move in the Middle East

Daily Mail​

a day ago

President Donald Trump delivered an ominous warning on Wednesday as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized a major military move in the Middle East amid rising tensions in the area.
The Defense Department has announced it has authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from bases in the Middle East ahead of continued negotiations with Iranian officials over its rapidly advancing nuclear program
It affects bases in Iraq, Syria, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates - but primarily affects military spouses and their children in Bahrain near the US Navy base, according to Fox News.
When asked why family members are being evacuated, Trump simply said: 'You'll have to see.'
He then headed off to the Kennedy Center to watch Les Miserables.
Trump later explained the dependents 'are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place.'
He again warned, 'We'll see what happens.'
When Trump was then asked what would diffuse tensions in the region, Trump said Iran 'can't have a nuclear weapon, very simply, they can't have a nuclear weapon. We're not going to allow that.'
In the meantime, the State Department has said it has ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad as part of its commitment 'to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad.'
'President Trump is committed to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad. In keeping with that commitment, we are constantly assessing the appropriate personnel posture at all our embassies,' a State Department official told The Hill.
'Based on our latest analysis, we decided to reduce the footprint of our Mission in Iraq.'
The embassy has been on limited staffing for years in part due to security concerns, as the surrounding area has previously been targeted by rockets and mortar during previous confrontations between Washington DC and Tehran, the Wall Street Journal reports.
But the State Department took its efforts a step further on Wednesday, as it also authorized the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait - giving them the option of leaving those countries at the government's expense and with government assistance.
The Defense Department also added that 'the safety and security of our service members and their families remains our highest priority and US Central Command is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East.'
No US uniformed service members will be evacuating, however, two unidentified defense officials told Fox.
The moves to reduce military personnel in the Middle East comes as talks between the US and Iran seeking to limit its nuclear program in exchange for the US lifting some of its sanctions have hit an impasse.
Tehran and Washington have held five rounds of talks since April to thrash out a new nuclear accord to replace the deal that US Trump overturned during his first term in 2018.
Iranian officials are now set to present a counterproposal on a nuclear deal with the United States at a scheduled meeting over the weekend, after previously describing Washington's offer as containing 'ambiguities'.
Iran's parliament speaker has also claimed that the US proposal failed to include the lifting of sanctions - a key demand for Tehran, which has been reeling under their weight for years.
Now, Trump says he is 'less confident' of reaching a deal to shut down the nuclear program.
'They seem to be delaying, and I think that´s a shame,' the president told the New York Post's Pod Force One podcast in an interview Monday.
'I´m less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them,' he claimed in the interview, which was released Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Iranian Defense Minister Amir Aziz Nasirzadeh told journalists that Tehran is ready to respond if the negotiations fail.
'If conflict is imposed on us, the opponent´s casualties will certainly be more than ours, and in that case, America must leave the region, because all its bases are within our reach,' he said.
'We have access to them, and we will target all of them in the host countries without hesitation.'
The country has repeatedly insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful.
'Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon, and U.S. militarism only fuels instability,' the Iranian mission to the United Nations reiterated on social media.
'CENTCOM's legacy of fueling regional instability, through arming aggressors and enabling Israeli crimes, strips it of any credibility to speak on peace or nonproliferation.
'Diplomacy - not militarism - is the only path forward,' it argued.
Yet the United States is not the only one cracking down on Iran's nuclear program, as the Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency is considering censuring the country.
Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the IAEA, warned on Tuesday that Iran's growing stockpile of highly enriched uranium and unresolved questions about its program are serious issues.
'Unless and until Iran assists the agency in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues, the Agency will not be in a position to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively peaceful,' he said.
At the end of May, the IAEA published a damning report that claimed Iran had carried out secret nuclear activities with material not declared to the U.N. nuclear watchdog at three locations long under investigation.
A censure by the international agency could now mean the United Nations reimposes its sanctions on Iran via a measure in Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that remains active until October.
Trump withdrew from that agreement in his first term.