{"id":75137,"date":"2019-05-20T11:09:11","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T16:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/persian-heritage.com\/wordpress\/?p=75137"},"modified":"2019-05-20T11:09:11","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T16:09:11","slug":"as-tensions-rise-us-lawmakers-await-briefings-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2019\/05\/20\/as-tensions-rise-us-lawmakers-await-briefings-on-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"As Tensions Rise, US Lawmakers Await Briefings on Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"VOA – In word and deed, the administration of President Donald Trump has been sounding the alarm over Iran and its proxies. \u201cIf American interests are attacked, we will most certainly respond in an appropriate fashion,\u201d U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned last week. Later this week, U.S. officials are expected to brief lawmakers on what has led the administration to strengthen America\u2019s military posture in the Middle East, while evacuating non-essential personnel from diplomatic facilities in Iraq. Members of Congress of both parties have been demanding the White House share information about perceived threats from Iran. \u201cI would urge the State Department and DoD (Department of Defense) to come down here and explain to us what is going on, because I have no idea what the threat stream is beyond what I read in the paper,\u201d said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need clarity, we need answers, and we need them now,\u201d said Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat.<\/p>\n

Asked by reporters if war with Iran was on the horizon, Trump would only say \u201cI hope not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some fear a repeat of the build-up that preceded the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not need another Iraq weapons of mass destruction moment that led us to one of the worst disastrous military engagements, when there were no weapons of mass destruction to be found,\u201d warned Menendez.<\/p>\n

Words of advice came from a former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, who subsequently also served as CIA director. America, he said, should seek to change Iran\u2019s behavior, not regime change in Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of invading, I think is something that is not seriously on the table…. We should have learned by now, I think, especially after the Arab Spring, that the regime change aftermath is not always what we have hoped it would be,\u201d said Petraeus, speaking Sunday on ABC\u2019s This Week program.<\/p>\n

For now, many Republicans are willing to give the administration the benefit of the doubt, given Iran\u2019s past actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI support what the administration is doing with regard to reinforcing our military capabilities in the region. And this is the reason: it sends a message to Iran that if you are going to try to do what you did in 2004, 2005 and 2006, which is kill and wound thousands of our military members (in Iraq), that we are going to have the capability to make you pay,\u201d said Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.<\/p>\n

Sen Marco Rubio, also a Republican put it more bluntly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very straightforward. If Iran attacks, there will be a war. If Iran does not attack, there will not be a war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many Democrats, meanwhile, are reserving judgment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to confirm what the purpose of our pressure campaign (against Iran) is. Many of us feel that it has been ham-handed (clumsy), without a well-defined endgame,\u201d said Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American people deserve to know what is going on,\u201d said Sen. Chuck Schumer, leader of minority Democrats in the Senate. \u201cIf the president and Republicans in Congress are planning to take the United States to a conflict, even a war in the Middle East, the American people deserve to know that, and they deserve to know why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Congressional leaders received classified briefings late last week. Briefings for rank-and-f<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VOA – In word and deed, the administration of President Donald Trump has been sounding the alarm over Iran and its proxies. \u201cIf American interests are attacked, we will most certainly respond in an appropriate fashion,\u201d U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned last week. Later this week, U.S. officials are expected to brief lawmakers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}