Marjorie Taylor Greene rips Trump Mideast policy saying ‘Americans don't want to bomb Iran' for Israel
A top MAGA firebrand in Congress, who has been a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, has come out strongly against the president's policy of defending Israel against regional aggressors like Iran.
Marjorie Taylor Greene joined the chorus of both 'America First' isolationists and far-left progressives opposed to the U.S. being drawn into a war with Iran as she tweeted late Wednesday evening: 'Americans don't want to bomb Iran because the secular government of Israel says that Iran is on the verge of developing a nuclear bomb any day now. '
Greene added that she doesn't 'know anyone that even thinks about Iran' in her district.
Her tweet came in response to a flurry of reporting around Washington indicating that the State Department's decision to move nonessential embassy staff out of Baghdad, Iraq's capital, was tied to concerns about violence escalating in the region as a result of an impending Israeli attack.
Indeed, on Thursday Trump said to reporters that an Israeli strike on Iran 'could very well happen.'
That attack, which the president was reported to have gotten Israel to forestall earlier this year, now seems to be greenlit. Trump told reporters he declined to support the Israeli plan in May as he sought a new nuclear agreement with the Iranian government.
'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. Based on our latest analysis, we decided to reduce the footprint of our Mission in Iraq,' an agency spokesperson told The Independent on Wednesday.
The president himself added to reporters: 'They can't have a nuclear weapon. Very simple – they can't have a nuclear weapon.'
On Wednesday, as reports of the planned Israeli strike began to emerge, a senator on the Armed Services committee, Tom Cotton, tweeted that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had 'confirmed that Iran's terrorist regime is actively working towards a nuclear weapon'. Hegseth testified to the committee earlier in the day.
'For the sake of our national security, the security of our allies, and millions of civilians in the region this cannot be allowed to happen,' Cotton, who hails from the Republican Party's hawkish wing, added on Twitter.
The strike, should it take place, would be a major impediment to the continuation of direct(ish) talks between Washington and Tehran regarding a new agreement aimed at constricting Iran's nuclear program to civilian usage only. A sixth round of talks headed by Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's envoy to the Middle East, were set for this weekend.
CBS News reported Wednesday evening that Israel was ready to carry out a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, and cited a US official as saying that the Trump administration was now looking for ways to actively support the strike. US involvement would not include direct action by B-2 bombers, restricting the attack to surface-level areas of the Iranian facilities, according to CBS's sources.
An Iranian dissident group in exile, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), showed satellite imagery of sites it said were key to the Iranian nuclear weapons program this week at a press briefing in Washington. The NCRI's reporting, citing sources on the ground within Iran, identified the locations and purposes of several sites tied to the nuclear program in the country's mostly-desert province of Semnan which it said had been largely militarized for the purpose of concealing the project. One of the sites identified by the NCRI as the Sorkheh Hesar site supposedly hosts an underground test facility.
Iran's foreign minister told reporters on Wednesday that US bases and facilities in the region would be potential targets for retaliatory strikes were Israel to carry out an attack with US assistance.
Trump has long veered towards the isolationist wing of his party and is an outspoken critic of US involvement in just about every sphere of geopolitics. But on the issue of Iran, Trump has treaded a middle ground: his first term was defined by a 'maximum pressure' policy of tough sanctions and political pressure, which gave way to an openness to negotiations upon the beginning of his second presidency.
Greene is one of his strongest allies in that regard, as a vitriolic opponent herself of aid to Ukraine and the NATO alliance.
But even as the president has engaged the US in the first semi-direct negotiations with Tehran since the Obama administration, he has maintained longstanding US policy that Iranian development of nuclear weapons is a red line.
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The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump warns Iran ‘make nuclear deal or face slaughter' as fears of all-out Middle East war grow
Donald Trump has warned Iran to make a nuclear deal now or face 'slaughter' amid growing fears of all-out war in the Middle East. Benjamin Netanyahu launched 'Operation Rising Lion' in the early hours of Friday morning with an attack on Tehran 's nuclear facilities and military commanders. Israel said around 200 Israeli Air Force aircraft dropped 330 munitions on around 100 targets in total, which included ballistic missile factories. In all, at least 20 senior commanders were killed, two regional sources said, reportedly including the head of the Revolutionary Guards aerospace force. Iran warned 'the gates of hell will open' in retaliation, while Israel said the strikes were only the start of its campaign as tensions in the region reach boiling point. The US president issued a stark warning to Tehran while also indicating there was still time to avert further attacks. 'I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal," he said Friday morning. 'There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.' Britain and the US both denied any involvement in Israel's attack. But while Sir Keir Starmer convened an emergency Cobra meeting and urged restraint, Mr Trump labelled the attack 'excellent' and said Washington had been informed beforehand. 'We gave them a chance [to strike a nuclear deal] and they didn't take it,' said the US president, who in 2018 pulled out of a deal struck with Iran by his predecessor Barack Obama. 'They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you're going to get hit. And there's more to come. A lot more. 'We knew everything, and I tried to save Iran humiliation and death,' he said. 'I tried to save them very hard because I would have loved to have seen a deal worked out. They can still work out a deal however, it's not too late.' Tehran was among six cities struck in the overnight attack, which Iran said killed six nuclear scientists and several top commanders, including Hossein Salami, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, along with Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, and the army's deputy commander in chief, Gholamali Rashid. Mossad operatives situated deep within Iranian territory also conducted a series of covert sabotage missions targeting the country's air defence systems. This involved building a drone base near Tehran, a security source told the Times of Israel. Israel has made clear its intentions to wipe out Iran's nuclear capability, with Mr Trump previously warning they 'cannot get a nuclear weapon'. While Iran insists its nuclear programme is intended merely for energy purposes, Tehran's leadership has repeatedly called Israel a 'cancer' in the Middle East. The Israeli military claimed on Friday it had been forced to act by new intelligence information showing that Iran was 'approaching the point of no return' in the development of a nuclear weapon. But a source familiar with US intelligence reports said there had been no recent change in Washington's assessment that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon and that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had not authorised a resumption of the nuclear weapons programme that was shut in 2003. As Iran retaliated with a salvo of 100 drones, Jordan's military said it had intercepted a number of missiles and drones that entered its airspace and which had been likely to fall in Jordanian territory, including populated areas. As sirens reportedly sounded in Amman, civilians on the ground in Baghdad told The Independent that they initially believed Iraq was under attack as they heard explosions overnight. Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz was damaged in the overnight attack, but investigations have not shown any radioactive or chemical contamination outside the site, the country's atomic energy organisation said. 'I woke up to deafening explosion. People on my street rushed out of their homes in panic, we were all terrified,' said Marziyeh, a 39-year-old from Natanz. Explosions were also reported in Tehran and other cities including Bandar Abbas, Arak, Isfahan and Kermanshah. Despite strikes being reported in Isfahan, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran's nuclear facilities there had not been impacted, citing Iranian officials. But the UN's nuclear watchdog warned that any military action jeopardising the safety and security of nuclear facilities risks grave consequences for the people of Iran, the region, and beyond. Further Israeli strikes were reported on Friday, including at Iran's military airport in Tabriz and at the Shiite holy city of Qom, according to Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency. Tensions in the region were already ramped up after 20 months of war in Gaza, sparked by Iranian-backed Hamas 's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Over that period, Israel has also decimated Iran's powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah, while trading fire with the Houthis in Yemen, who had been targeting Gulf shipping in retaliation for the Gaza war. However, Israel's major escalation will raise fears of all-out conflict between the region's most powerful militaries and a destabilising wider escalation, with concerns that US military sites and shipping in the Persian Gulf could become targets. Iran's defence minister Aziz Nasirzadeh had warned on Wednesday that it would retaliate by hitting US bases in the region if Iran was subjected to strikes. The US has a military presence at bases across the Middle East. In an acknowledgement of the heightened risk, the US on Wednesday announced the partial closure of its embassy in Baghdad, while authorising the 'voluntary departure' of military dependents from bases in Bahrain and Kuwait. Also on Wednesday, the UK's maritime agency warned that increased tensions in the Middle East may lead to an escalation in military activity that could impact shipping in critical waterways. It advised vessels to use caution while travelling through the Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Straits of Hormuz, which all border Iran. While Hezbollah indicated on Friday that it would not respond to Israel's attack on Iran, the Tehran-allied regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has also been toppled since Iran's major attack on Israel last April. However, there are fears that Iran-aligned paramilitaries in Syria sought by the nascent rebel-led administration established after the fall of Assad December.
Reuters
26 minutes ago
- Reuters
US issues security alerts for Iran, Iraq, Israel and Jordan, warns of missile attacks
WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department issued security alerts on Friday for several Middle Eastern countries, in some cases advising against travel and warning of possible missile attacks after Israel launched military strikes against Iran. It warned American citizens not to travel to Iran and said those there should leave. "U.S. citizens who are unable to depart Iran should shelter in place," the advisory read. The alerts warned of missiles, drones or rockets flying over Iraqi and Jordanian airspace. "In the event of such an incident seek overhead cover and shelter in place. Do not expose yourself to falling debris," the department said. Israel said on Friday it had targeted Iran's nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders at the start of what it warned would be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon. Iran promised a harsh response to the onslaught. Israel said about 100 drones had been launched towards Israeli territory in retaliation, although an Iranian source denied this. Airlines steered clear of much of the Middle East on Friday after the Israeli attacks forced carriers to cancel or divert thousands of flights in the latest upheaval to travel in the region. Late on Thursday, the State Department said it had directed all U.S. government employees and their family members in Israel to shelter in place until further notice.
The Guardian
26 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Pentagon pizza monitor predicted ‘busy night' ahead of Israel's attack on Iran
The timing of Israel's plan to attack Iran was top-secret. But Washington pizza delivery trackers guessed something was up before the first bombs fell. About an hour before Iranian state TV first reported loud explosions in Tehran, pizza orders around the Pentagon went through the roof, according to a viral X account claiming to offer 'hot intel' on 'late-night activity spikes' at the US military headquarters. 'As of 6:59 pm ET nearly all pizza establishments nearby the Pentagon have experienced a HUGE surge in activity,' the account Pentagon Pizza Report posted on Thursday. Not confining its analysis to pizza, the account noted three hours later that a gay bar near the Pentagon had 'abnormally low traffic for a Thursday night', and said this probably pointed to 'a busy night at the Pentagon'. While far from scientific, the Pentagon pizza theory 'is not something the internet just made up', the Takeout, an online site covering restaurants and food trends, noted earlier this year. Pentagon-adjacent pizza joints also got much busier than usual during Israel's 2024 missile strike on Iran, it said, as there are 'a multitude of fast food restaurants in the Pentagon complex, but no pizza places'. Pizza deliveries to the Pentagon reportedly doubled right before the US invasion of Panama in December 1989, and surged again before Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal he was fully aware in advance of the bombing campaign, which Israel says is needed to end Iran's nuclear program. 'We know what's going on.' For the rest of Americans, pepperoni pie activity was not the only way to tell something was about to happen. Washington had already announced it was moving some diplomats and their families out of the Middle East on Wednesday. And close to an hour before Israel unleashed its firepower on Iran, the US ambassador in Jerusalem, Mike Huckabee, sent out a rather revealing X post: 'At our embassy in Jerusalem and closely monitoring the situation. We will remain here all night. 'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!''
