Meanwhile, Iran is playing the long game
Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images Amid chants of “Death to America” in Iran’s parliament on Sunday, the chamber’s speaker, Ali Larijani, directed yet another dire warning to the U.S. “You ought to know,” he said, “that this deed will bring painful consequences.”
Then things got weird. Late on Monday, a letter from the U.S. commander in Iraq purporting to notify Baghdad of U.S. intent to withdraw troops from Iraq surfaced online and was acknowledged as authentic, spurring confusion and uncertainty. Then, when asked about it, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said the memo was inaccurate and he and his staff were “trying to figure out” what was going on — not usually how the Pentagon’s leader responds to news of troop movements.
Likewise, the Iranians announced that they are suspending their participation in the 2015 nuclear deal that had shut down their weapons program, but they left open the possibility of returning to it at some point. Tehran has yet to make clear whether that means expelling international inspectors and closing down sensors that let the outside world have a better sense of whether it is dashing for a bomb.
Publicly, administration officials have given inconsistent answers on the nature of the alleged threat that compelled the Trump administration to strike now without notifying Congress or our allies, including those who have troops on the ground with us in Iraq. But, on background, officials told New York Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi that the sourcing was “razor thin” and contained no conclusive evidence of an imminent attack.
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