The president made the abrupt announcement in a tweet Wednesday afternoon, coming amid lingering tensions between the two countries over past confrontations as well as the coronavirus pandemic.

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“Upon information and belief, Iran or its proxies are planning a sneak attack on U.S. troops and/or assets in Iraq. If this happens, Iran will pay a very heavy price, indeed!” Trump tweeted.

Trump’s tweet came soon after he attended an intelligence briefing at noon at the White House.

Sources told Fox News that the U.S. believes Iranian-backed proxies were planning the sneak attack and that Trump’s tweet was a warning to the Iranian leadership to tell their proxies to back down or face consequences

In late March, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that Iran had refused American aid for addressing the coronavirus pandemic.

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The latest tension comes several months after hostilities between the U.S. and Iran that included an attack at the U.S. Embassy compound in Iraq that U.S. officials blamed on Iran. In response, the U.S. carried out a strike that resulted in the death of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Prior to the embassy attack, U.S. airstrikes against an Iranian-backed Shiite militia in Iraq, which the U.S. military said was retaliation for the killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it had blamed on the militia.

Fox News’ John Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-iran-planning-sneak-attack-on-us-troops-assets-in-iraq

The post Trump says Iran planning ‘sneak attack’ on US troops, assets in Iraq first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

U.S. Central Command closed out the week by sending a strong message to Iran regarding the “enormous” firepower of nearby carriers the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS Harry S. Truman.

The recent killing of U.S. Army Spc. Juan Miguel Mendez Covarrubias, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Marshal D. Roberts, and British Army Reservist Lance Cpl. Brodie Gillon by Iran-backed Kata’ib Hezbollah appears to have partly prompted the first dual-use of carriers in the region since 2012.

CENTCOM’s official Twitter account put out a direct quote by Gen Frank McKenzie saying, “I would caution Iran and its proxies from attempting a response that would endanger U.S. and coalition forces or our partners.”

A follow-up tweet from the account reiterated: “U.S. Central Command is well postured to defend our forces around the region and to respond to any further aggression against our forces.”

“We’re going to keep them for a while,” the officer said at a Pentagon press briefing Friday, Business Insider first reported. “The beauty of the aircraft carrier is this. It has enormous offensive capabilities, it has enormous defensive capabilities, and it has mobility,” he explained. “The carriers are very important to us, and we know the Iranians watch them very closely too.”

The outlet also quoted former White House national security adviser John Bolton as saying, “[This was done to] send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.”

Sending both carriers to the region also comes in the wake of January’s killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian military’s Quds force, by U.S. forces.

President Trump approved the strike, which took place at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq, after an embassy siege that killed the American contractor.

“General Qassem Soleimani has killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more … but got caught,” Mr. Trump tweeted Jan. 3.

The post Iran warned not to mess with U.S. as CENTCOM spotlights ‘enormous’ firepower of nearby carriers first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.