"Iran should join its neighbors who are embracing a better future...If Iran is willing to choose the path of peace, America will walk beside it"
"The regime would have even more money...all of the elements of the terror sate would have been enhanced" had US continued w/the #JCPOA, per @SecPompeo
"#Iran again has been squeezed" per National Security Adviser @robertcobrien "These sanctions will further enhance peace in the region by denying funds to the Iranians"
Iran "could be a beacon in the Middle East" he says, if only #Tehran would change its behavior
"We feel very confident in regards to our preparedness and readiness" says @EsperDoD of US troop posture in the Middle East re: #Iran snapback sanctons
"The country that is isolated today is not the UnitedStates but #Iran" per @SecPompeo
"I wish that they would join us in this," Pompeo says of the #E3 "The European people will be safer as a result of the actions the United States has taken today"
"When we launched the maximum pressure campaign back in 2018 under President Trump's leadership, the critics said it wouldn't work. They were wrong..." per @SecPompeo
"Our sanctions have saved countless Muslim, Jewish & Christian lives by denying #Tehran access to more than $70 billion that could have otherwise gone to terror"per @SecPompeo "We've done this all while keeping a channel open for humanitarian trade and assistance"
"As we are demonstrating today, we'll keep it up until the #Iran|ian regime comes to the table & accepts a real deal for changing its behavior" per @SecPompeo on sanctions
"The American people should know that we will always put their safety first"
"The administration will not allow Iran to endanger the rest of the world with a fresh supply of ballistic missiles & conventional arms" per @USTreasury Sec Mnuchin, announcing sanctions vs the the Atomic Energy Organization of #Iran...
Fuller quote: "The United States is taking another important step to both protect the American people & deter #Iran|ian aggression against our troops, our interests & our allies & partners" per @EsperDoD
"We stand ready to respond to future #Iran|ian aggression & we remain committed to doing our part in the administration's maximum pressure campaign" per @EsperDoD
"Today's executive order will further disrupt #Iran|ian efforts to import & proliferate conventional weapons, helping protect US forces, our allies & partners & civilian populations until Iran complies w/international norms" per @EsperDoD
"We encourage #Tehran to cease its malign activities throughout the region & to act like a normal country" per @EsperDoD "But we're also prepared to respond to Iranian aggression...Our commanders have the authorities & resources they need to protect their troops..."
"We don't need a cheering section to validate our moral compass" per @USAmbUN re #Iran sanctions
"We do not find comfort based solely on numbers, particularly when the majority has found themselves in an uncomfortable position of under writing terrorism, chaos & conflict"
"The #UnitedStates will do everything necessary to ensure that the Islamic Republic of #Iran, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, cannot inflict even greater harm on the world w/more deadly weapons" per @USAmbUN
"We are doing this for peace..."
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NEW: US intelligence agencies pushing back vs claims health ailments linked to Havana Syndrome were caused by a foreign adversary
"The intelligence does not link a foreign actor to these events. Indeed, it points away from their involvement" per a US intelligence official
"5 elements of the intelligence community continue to assess that it's very unlikely of foreign actors responsible" per the US intelligence official
BUT 2 intelligence agencies have reevaluated - "shift from unlikely w/low confidence to roughly even chance with low confidence"
The US intelligence official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, describe the shift in view about the possible involvement of foreign adversaries as "subtle" - "They have a low confidence in their judgments"
NEW: Islamic State-Somalia getting boost from an "influx of foreign fighters"
A just-issued UN sanctions monitoring team report warns the foreign fighters "have expanded and enhanced the group’s capabilities against al-Shabaab"
Influx of foreign fighters to IS-Somalia " has coincided with the re-emergence of the Al-Karrar office as a
key administrative and financial hub for [ISIS] globally" per the UN report
IS-Somalia being led by "a cadre of former al-Shabaab
militants based in the Bari region of Puntland" per UN report
Abdirahman Fahiye Isse Mohamud is the emir of IS-Somalia, per report, "responsible for [ISIS] operations in Somalia"
NEW: Senate Democrats ask @DeptofDefense @TheJusticeDept to look at Elon Musk's reported contact w/Russian officials - "determine whether this behavior should force a review of Mr. Musk’s
continued involvement in SpaceX’s varying contracts" w/the US government
"Communications between Russian government officials and any individual with a security
clearance have the potential to put our security at risk" per @SenatorShaheen @SenJackReed
"We urge you to take appropriate action immediately"
Musk's alleged contacts with Russian officials was first reported by @WSJ, which cited current and former U.S., European and Russian officials
JUST IN: Iranian, 2 men from New York charged in connection with plot to kill Americans, including President-elect Donald Trump & a US journalist of Iranian origin
.@TheJusticeDept filed charges against 51yo Farhad Shakeri of Iran, 49yo Carlisle Rivera & 36yo Jonathon Loadholt
Shakeri remains at large in Iran
Rivera & Loadholt have been detained pending trial
@TheJusticeDept US Atty General Merrick Garland, in statement, calls Shakeri "an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump"
Pentagon assesses since February 2022, Russia's suffered 600,000 casualties
This September, "Russian forces sustained more casualties in terms of both killed & wounded in action than in any other month" per a sr US defense official
"#Russia|n losses, again, both killed & wounded in action in just the 1st year of the war exceeded the total of all Russian losses or Soviet losses in any conflict since World War Two combined" per sr US defense official
#Ukraine "have sunk, destroyed or damaged at least 32 medium to large #Russia|n Federation navy vessels in the #BlackSea" per sr US defense official