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| Trump Claims Iranians Were Plotting to Blow Up American Embassy | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| WASHINGTON — President Trump asserted without evidence on Thursday that a top Iranian commander killed in an American airstrike was plotting to blow up an American embassy. | |
| The president’s unsubstantiated account comes as Democrats are demanding details about the intelligence underlying the Trump administration’s decision to kill Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the leader of the powerful Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. | |
| “We did it because they were looking to blow up our embassy,” Mr. Trump said in remarks to reporters during an unrelated event at the White House. | |
| It was unclear whether Mr. Trump might have been disclosing new details about what the administration has called an “imminent” Iranian plot against American interests in the region, or whether he was referring to the pro-Iranian protesters who stormed the American Embassy in Baghdad last week, a subject he returned to later in his remarks. | |
| Democrats and some Republicans are frustrated with the refusal of Trump officials to reveal more about the intelligence that prompted the targeted killing of a foreign military official in Mr. Suleimani on Jan. 2. | |
| Earlier on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence defended classified Capitol Hill briefings that national security officials delivered on Wednesday. Several member of Congress described the briefings as inadequate and even insulting in their lack of specifics. | |
| “Some of that has to do with what’s called sources and methods,” Mr. Pence said on NBC’s “Today” show. “Some of the most compelling evidence that Qassem Soleimani was preparing an imminent attack against American forces and American personnel also represents some of the most sensitive intelligence that we have — it could compromise those sources and methods.” | |
| Mr. Trump’s comments came during a brief exchange with reporters after a White House event on newly proposed environmental regulations. | |
| When reporters asked again about Mr. Trump’s allegation of an embassy bombing plot, he referred back to the Dec. 31 assault on the American Embassy in Baghdad, which Trump officials have said was orchestrated by Mr. Suleimani after American airstrikes on an Iranian-back militia group in Iraq. | |
| Mr. Trump said that the protesters were breaking windows, “very structurally strong windows,” and that “those people were going to do very serious harm.” But he did not repeat any claim about a bomb plot, and it was unclear whether he was linking that alleged plot to the Dec. 31 assault or suggesting a future embassy attack was in the works. | |
| The White House did not respond to a query about what the president was referring to when he mentioned a potential embassy bombing. | |
| Mr. Trump also cited “other reasons that were very obvious” for the strike on General Suleimani: “Somebody died, one of our military people died, people badly wounded.” | |
| Last month, a rocket attack by an Iranian-backed militia on an Iraqi military base killed an American civilian contractor. The United States responded with deadly airstrikes on Iranian-backed militias, which drew outrage from pro-Iranian protesters who broke into the American Embassy compound in Baghdad. | Last month, a rocket attack by an Iranian-backed militia on an Iraqi military base killed an American civilian contractor. The United States responded with deadly airstrikes on Iranian-backed militias, which drew outrage from pro-Iranian protesters who broke into the American Embassy compound in Baghdad. |
| Aides had previously said only that Mr. Trump was angry about the Iranian attack that killed the American contractor and fumed as he watched television footage of demonstrators storming the American Embassy. | Aides had previously said only that Mr. Trump was angry about the Iranian attack that killed the American contractor and fumed as he watched television footage of demonstrators storming the American Embassy. |
| Days later, Mr. Trump ordered the strike on General Suleimani. “We had a shot at him and we took it, and that shot was pinpoint accurate and that was the end of a monster,” Mr. Trump said Thursday. | Days later, Mr. Trump ordered the strike on General Suleimani. “We had a shot at him and we took it, and that shot was pinpoint accurate and that was the end of a monster,” Mr. Trump said Thursday. |