Profile picture
Ben Norton
@BenjaminNorton
, 8 tweets, 4 min read Read on Twitter
The Trump admin's narrative blaming Iran for "attacking" oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman quickly fell apart.

But less noticed is how the US disrupted important Iranian diplomatic efforts at the Shanghai Cooperation Org. summit today in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
thegrayzone.com/2019/06/14/us-…
The US claimed Iran "attacked" oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman with mines. But the president of the Japanese cargo company that owns one of the ships debunked this, saying the crew saw it get hit by two "flying objects," not a mine.
thegrayzone.com/2019/06/14/us-…
“The crew told us something came flying at the ship and they found a hole,” said the president of the Japanese company that owns the cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman. “Then some crew witnessed the second shot”

This blatantly contradicts the US gov narrative
reuters.com/article/us-mid…
Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif said the Trump Administration is trying to “sabotage diplomacy” — both during Japan's historic visit and also today at a pan-Asian summit in Kyrgyzstan — in order to “cover up [American] economic terrorism against Iran”
Iran is trying to strengthen its international relationships and create new methods of South–South cooperation to ease the crippling (and illegal) US economic blockade

The Trump admin is trying to stop Iranian diplomacy, which could weaken the petrodollar
Iran was supposed with meet with India today at the Shanghai Cooperation Org summit in Bishkek, but it was cancelled last minute.

Iran is trying to make a mechanism to let India pay for oil in rupees, bypassing US sanctions—and challenging the petrodollar
livemint.com/news/india/mod…
While the US is economically suffocating Iran's civilian population and threatening the country with war, Rouhani met with Xi today and China said it will promote a steady development of ties with Iran, no matter how the situation changes
reuters.com/article/us-mid…
Iranian President Rouhani condemned the US government today for "violating all the international structures and rules."

In a speech at a pan-Asian summit in Kyrgyzstan, Rouhani said the US "presents a serious risk to stability in the region and the world"
ndtv.com/world-news/us-…
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to Ben Norton
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @BenjaminNorton see all

Profile picture
Ben Norton
@BenjaminNorton
Let's be clear: The Trump admin sent a drone into what Iran says was its sovereign airspace. The US knew Iran would shoot it down in self-defense—but the US gov also knew the corporate media would obediently portray this as Iranian "escalation," helping justify Trump's aggression
The Trump admin's strategy toward Iran is blatantly aggressive and illegal provocation — but the corporate media is dutifully going along with this, helping to whitewash US aggression, portray Iran as the aggressor, and sell a new war.

The corporate media is a handmaiden to war.
Case study in propaganda: NBC's Today show obediently regurgitates the US military's narrative, with no skepticism.

Iran says the US drone was in its airspace; US military says otherwise. Whose claims make the headline? US of course.

This is state media.
today.com/video/iran-sho…
Read 13 tweets
Profile picture
Ben Norton
@BenjaminNorton
The Trump admin is recycling the same playbook Bush used for Iraq, trying to falsely link Iran to al-Qaeda to justify a war of aggression.

The reality is Iran has led the fight *against* AQ — while the US and its allies supported AQ in Syria, Yemen, etc.
nytimes.com/2019/06/19/us/…
Back in 2017 I reported at The @GrayzoneProject how the Trump administration was working with the neoconservative pro-war think tank FDD to try to falsely link Iran to al-Qaeda (even though, again, Shia-majority Iran has been leading the fight against AQ!)
thegrayzone.com/2017/11/10/tru…
At The @GrayzoneProject in 2017, I also wrote about how Trump was blaming Iran for attacks carried out by al-Qaeda kingpin Osama bin Laden (who had in fact been a longtime CIA ally, fighting in alliance with the US in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union)
thegrayzone.com/2017/11/14/tru…
Read 3 tweets
Profile picture
Ben Norton
@BenjaminNorton
.@AOC is correct that the US government is running (privatized, for-profit) concentration camps for refugees and immigrants.

What is not being emphasized though is this barbaric policy is *bipartisan*. It was going on under Obama, and expanded under Trump
latimes.com/nation/la-na-i…
In this article from 2016 (under Obama), a Japanese-American who as a child during WWII was held in a US gov. concentration camp drew direct comparisons to the (for-profit) internment camps for immigrants today.

The US has a long, horrific history of this
latimes.com/nation/la-na-i…
Hitler and the Nazi party were big admirers of the US government's institutional racism and apartheid. They borrowed tactics from the US, in fact: The concentration camps were partially inspired by the colonial reservation system against Native Americans
newsmaven.io/indiancountryt…
Read 12 tweets

Related threads

Profile picture
Filomena Rocha
@Filomen03258997
9. United States decided to label #IRGC terrorists. But who are the real terrorists? Who created, trained, armed & financed the worst terrorist groups in the world?

#Hypocrites #DoubleStandards #Liars #Warlords #USRealTerrorists
Wrong US policies in the Middle East. Sanctions against Iran. Sanctions used by the USA as a war weapon🤨👇🏼
1. United States decided to label #IRGC terrorists. But who are the real terrorists? Who created, trained, armed & financed the worst terrorist groups in the world? 🤨👇🏼
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1116293…
Read 136 tweets
Profile picture
Filomena Rocha
@Filomen03258997
8. United States decided to label #IRGC terrorists. But who are the real terrorists? Who created, trained, armed & financed the worst terrorist groups in the world?

#Hypocrites #DoubleStandards #Liars #Warlords #USRealTerrorists
1. United States decided to label #IRGC terrorists. But who are the real terrorists? Who created, trained, armed & financed the worst terrorist groups in the world? 🤨👇🏼
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1116293…
2. United States decided to label #IRGC terrorists. But who are the real terrorists? Who created, trained, armed & financed the worst terrorist groups in the world? 🤨👇🏼
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1121015…
Read 95 tweets
Profile picture
Lonnie M. Przybysz
@Lonnie_Lala
I can never quite figure out why President @realDonaldTrump and his Administration always cover for the deep state and their false flags they use to try and start war. I know they have a reason, and they won't allow a war, but I don't understand why they don't just call them out?
President Putin’s grave warning that situations “in and with” the United States are not just getting bad, “they are in fact deteriorating, getting worse by the hour”, this grim reality is driving the world towards total war as best exampled by yesterday’s “false flag” attack.
yesterday’s “false flag” attack against two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman—that came a day after socialist Democrats in the US Congress shockingly voted for the “unilateral disarmament” of the US military in refusing their urgent request for low-yield defensive nuclear weapons.
Read 36 tweets
Profile picture
Aurora Intel
@AuroraIntel
Initial reports of two giant #oil tankers targeted in Sea of #Oman, several explosions reported and distress calls have been issued.
Initial unconfirmed reports suggest one of the distressed tankers is the Front Altair.
Hyundai Dubai sitting North West of Front Altair has been rumored to be involved in some capacity, unclear if helping or also targeted, she has a tug boat along side.
Read 90 tweets
Profile picture
Filomena Rocha
@Filomen03258997
7. United States decided to label #IRGC terrorists. But who are the real terrorists? Who created, trained, armed & financed the worst terrorist groups in the world?

#Hypocrites #DoubleStandards #Liars #Warlords #USRealTerrorists
1. United States decided to label #IRGC terrorists. But who are the real terrorists? Who created, trained, armed & financed the worst terrorist groups in the world?
🤨👇🏼
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1116293…
2. United States decided to label #IRGC terrorists. But who are the real terrorists? Who created, trained, armed & financed the worst terrorist groups in the world?
🤨👇🏼
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1121015…
Read 108 tweets
Profile picture
Heshmat Alavi
@HeshmatAlavi
1)
 Brian Hook, US Special Rep. for #Iran, discusses President Trump's Iran policy, the impact of US withdrawal from the JCPOA & the future of U.S.-Iran relations.
"We will not be held hostage by Iran's malign activities. You either comply or you don't. It will not be tolerated."
2)
 Hook:
Iran is more financially isolated today than two years ago. Last month we designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist org. Iran not only supports terrorism through proxies, it engages as a gov in terrorism. The IRGC has institutionalized in terrorism.
3)
 Hook:
We have recently sanctioned Iran's oil exports & trekking towards zero. Iran receives $50 billion oil revenue each year. Iranian-backed Shia fighters are going unpaid. We have raised the cost of Iran's behavior. We have zeroed purchases of Iranian crude & condensates.
Read 14 tweets

Trending hashtags

#Norwegian #D #Iran #IranWar #Khashoggi #Pompeo #ToldYouSo #IranRegimeChange #fakenews #Liars #Hypocrites #FamiliesBelongTogetherMarch #Baku #Drugs #Feinstein #daily #Terrorism #SeaOfOman #UAE #Turkey #Trump #SanctionsAreWorking #JCPOA #Karaj #Grift
Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!