BFF-01 White House sought military strike against Iran

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IRAQ-CONFLICT-US-IRAN-MILITARY

White House sought military strike against Iran

WASHINGTON, Jan 14, 2019 (AFP) – The White House demanded that the military
draft plans for strikes on Iran after attacks in Iraq last year, sparking
concern at the Pentagon and State Department, The Wall Street Journal
reported Sunday.

The report said the move came after a mortar attack launched by an Iran-
linked group on the Baghdad diplomatic quarters home to the US embassy in
September. No one was hurt by the shells, which landed in an open lot.

But the White House National Security Council (NSC) sought to develop a
forceful American response to the low-scale attack, including options for a
strike against the Islamic republic, the Journal reported.

It added that the NSC also requested options to respond with strikes in
Iraq and Syria.

“It definitely rattled people,” a former senior US administration official
told the newspaper. “People were shocked. It was mind-boggling how cavalier
they were about hitting Iran.”

Although the Defense Department did develop proposals for a possible
strike, the Journal said it was unclear whether they were shared with the
White House.

In one NSC meeting, then deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel
called the attacks in Iraq an “act of war” and called for a decisive US
response.

Pentagon officials stressed that it was not unusual for the Defense
Department to draw up military plans for the White House.

“The Department of Defense is a planning organization and provides the
president military options for a variety of threats,” Colonel Rob Manning, a
Pentagon spokesman, told AFP.

He said the Pentagon’s activities include “routinely reviewing and updating
plans and activities to deal with a host of threats, including those posed by
Iran, to deter and, if necessary, to respond to aggression.”

Asked about the report during his Middle East trip, US Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo declined comment.

After the attack in Baghdad, the White House warned that “the United States
will hold the regime in Tehran accountable for any attack that results in
injury to our personnel or damage to United States government facilities.”

“America will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of American lives,”
it added.

National Security Advisor John Bolton, a known Iran hawk, has pressed for
regime change in the Islamic republic.

He penned a 2015 New York Times opinion piece prior to his current role
titled “To stop Iran’s bomb, bomb Iran.”

BSS/AFP/MSY/0843 hrs