Trump Admin Pins Gulf Of Oman Attack On Iran Without Evidence

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When Donald Trump is in lockstep agreement with government officials, in fact even tweeting about how correct they are in the decisions they’ve made, suspicions immediately arise.

When intelligence agencies determined that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was ordered by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, a man Trump had business with, he pushed back. When the State Department agreed that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, Trump publicly disagreed. Now that they’re blaming Iran for attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, Trump is using it as evidence that he was right about Iran all along to withdraw the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran. Suspicious, indeed.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that:

‘It is the assessment of the United States government that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks the occurred in the Gulf of Oman today…This assessment is based on intelligence, the weapons used and the level of expertise needed the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping and the fact that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a high degree of sophistication.’

The biggest issue with all of this is that Trump has lied so often for his own benefit that it’s impossible to know whether the American public can believe anything that Trump or his appointees say. Trump repeatedly insisted that Obama’s Iran deal was naive and that Iran wasn’t in compliance, which was entirely untrue. Now that Trump seems determined to engage in conflict with Iran, it’s impossible to know if he’s truly knowledgable enough to gauge the situation accurately or if this is simply a desperate bid to make himself look good and rally support for war.

Suddenly, Trump’s State Department is concerned about our allies after agreeing with Trump for two years that our allies are less believeable than our enemies.

‘The United States will defend its forces, interests and stand with our partners and allies to safeguard global commerce and regional stability.’

It isn’t as if Trump wouldn’t dream up such a scheme to deflect attention as his 2020 bid for the presidency remains in doubt. After all, he did once before when Obama was president. It’s also not as if Pompeo has been entirely trustworthy or has chosen to support truth over his boss’s wishes. That’s what makes his statement so difficult to accept.

‘Taken as a whole, these unprovoked attacks present a clear threat to the international peace and security, a blatant assault of the freedom of navigation and an unacceptable campaign of escalating tension by Iran. Iran is lashing out because the regime wants our successful maximum pressure campaign lifted.’

For Pompeo’s full statement, see video below:

Featured image screenshot via YouTube