Washington [EFE]. The secretary of defense of U.S, Mark Esper, he admitted this Sunday that he has not seen any concrete “proof” that the Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, killed this month in a US operation in Baghdad, will plan to attack four embassies of the US country, as the president states Donald Trump.
“The president did not cite a specific test, and I have not seen any, as far as the four embassies are concerned,” said Wait in an interview with the television program “Face The Nation” on CBS News.
►How is the political board in the Middle East after the murder of Soleimani?
►Trump says Soleimani planned attacks against “four embassies” in the US
► USA he says he killed Soleimani because he planned to fly his embassy in Baghdad
The Pentagon chief clarified, however, that he agrees with Trump in which “it is probable that (the Iranians) were going to attack the embassies, because they are the most prominent point of the American presence in a country.”
His statements add doubts to the changing account of Trump to justify the mission against Soleimani, since the president initially said that the commander planned indefinite attacks against US targets, then he said he wanted to “fly” the embassy in Baghdad and then talked about plans against other missions.
“I can reveal that I think there would probably have been four embassies.”he assured Trump during an interview on Friday with Fox News.
Wait He argued that the president never spoke of evidence in the case of the four embassies, but said he “believed” that this was the plan of Soleimaní, and said he shares that analysis.
From what he did see “evidence” the Secretary of Defense was that Soleimani He planned to attack the US embassy in Baghdad, Esper said in another interview with the CNN network.
Changes in the justification of Trump for that mission they have generated discomfort among some members of Congress, who did not receive any information about the alleged threat to four embassies during a meeting they held this week with Esper and other officials, according to various media.
Independent Congressman Justin Amash, who left the Republican party last year, accused Friday of Trump of “lying or beautifying things” with his statement about the four embassies.
In addition, the hypothesis that the operation against Soleimani could be part of a broader plan designed to weaken the Iranian Revolutionary Guardians has gained strength after the Washington Post revealed Friday that the US launched another air strike in Yemen on the same day as the mission in Baghdad on January 2.
The operation in Yemen sought to kill Abdul Reza Shahlai, a commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, but failed to end his life.
While, Trump He turned to Twitter again today to curb protests this Saturday in Tehran, where hundreds of Iranians chanted strong slogans against the Islamic system and the Revolutionary Guard.
“To the leaders of Iran: DO NOT KILL YOUR MANIFESTANTS. Thousands have already died or been imprisoned for you, and the world is watching you. And most importantly, the United States is watching them. ”, wrote Trump.
The president asked the Iranian government to “reactivate the Internet”, although today there were no cuts in access to that service in Iran – as it happened during the demonstrations last November – and that the protests seemed to calm down this Sunday.
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