President Donald Trump, from a podium at the White House on Wednesday, said the U.S. will impose new sanctions on Iran in his first public remarks since Iranian missiles hit two military bases in Iraq that house American troops.
Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles on Tuesday night in response to the U.S. drone strike that killed top military Gen. Qassem Soleimani. U.S. and Iraqi officials said there were no fatalities resulting from the "revenge" attacks, although Iranian news outlets claim dozens were killed.
Trump told the nation that Iran appeared to be standing down from the escalating conflict and asked NATO, an organization he has shunned, to be more involved in the Middle East. He also announced the U.S. will further raise sanctions on Iran, though he did not immediately provide details. Current sanctions have had a substantial impact on the country and additional sanctions levied against Iran's central bank late last year after its suspected attack on Saudi Arabia, further crippled its economy.
Trump also defended his decision to take out Iran's top general and stressed: "Soleimani's hands were drenched in both Iranian and American blood."
"As long as I am President of the United States Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon," the president said in the Grand Foyer of the White House standing in front of Vice President Mike Pence and an assortment of cabinet secretaries and military officers in uniform. He said the U.S. is "ready to embrace peace."
Stocks rallied and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hit all-time highs after the president concluded his comments.
The president said the U.S. had "sent a valuable message to terrorists."
He also alleged the missiles launched by Iran last night were "paid for by the funds made available by the last administration." The money he was referring to were funds that had been frozen after the shah of Iran fell in 1979. Obama agreed to return the long-disputed funds as part of a nuclear deal.
He also referenced what he said was the U.S.'s independence from foreign oil. Though it is true the U.S. produces far more oil than it did years ago, it still imports about 10 million barrels daily. Most U.S. oil comes from Canada, but oil still flows in from Saudia Arabia, Iraq, and other nations in the Middle East.
Hours after launching its missiles, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted the nation did not "seek escalation or war." It was unclear if Iran had planned more attacks after Iran's Revolutionary Guard yesterday said in a statementthe attacks were the start of "the fierce revenge." Zarif said Iran "took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense," suggesting yesterday's attack was the last. Trump's comments seemed to confirm Zarif's statement.
Just after the U.S. carried out the drone attack the killed Soleimani last week, Trump said he had authorized the strike due to an "imminent" threat and he had intended to prevent a war, not start one. Since then, U.S. officials, like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed the move was done to send a message to Iran.
While Iran and the U.S. have held tense relations for more than four decades, the recent escalation began when an American military contractor was killed by an Iranian-backed militia group in the final week of December. The U.S. responded with airstrikes in areas where the militias are based. Then, on New Year's Eve, Iranian-backed militias stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and trapped American diplomats in the compound. Gen. Soleimani was killed in response by a drone strike last Friday.
The school shooting in Texas that left 19 children and 2 teachers dead has reignited the debate over gun control.
The tragedy in Uvalde is the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade and marks the latest in a string of mass shootings in the country. Jared Moskowitz, Broward County Commissioner and candidate for Congress in FL-23, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss why gun control measures are stalled in the Senate, and where legislation can move forward from here.
Police and detectives are still investigating the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 children and two adults. Cheddar News was joined by Kirk Burkhalter, professor at New York Law School and former NYPD detective to gain some insight on what investigators are looking for and what comes next.
Texas authorities say the gunman who massacred 21 people at an elementary school was in the building for over an hour before he was killed by law enforcement officers.
Join Cheddar News as we break down the top headlines for Thursday, May 26 including updates on the Texas school shooting, President Joe Biden's executive order on police reform, and a recount in the Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary.
Representative Morgan Griffith of Virginia rebuked words from the FDA commissioner that could have been construed as blaming parents for stockpiling baby formula exacerbating the shortage.
Cheddar News reporter Megan Pratz brings the latest from the scene of yesterday's horrific school shooting at a Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Now the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history with 19 children and two adults killed, Pratz goes into comments by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, details about the deceased shooter, and reactions from members of the community.
The Robb Elementary School mass shooting killing 19 children and two adults in Uvalde, Texas pm Tuesday was the deadliest school shooting since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, and came just 10 days after the grocery store shooting in Buffalo, New York. Nelson Vergara, the founder and CEO of 360 Protective Solutions, joined Cheddar’s Opening Bell to discuss. "Right now what law enforcement is concentrating on is trying to trace his steps as to what motivated the gunman to act the way he did. What it boils down to just trying to figure out what led to his motivation to do such a horrific act.”
An recently conducted AP-NORC poll found that majorities of the Black and Hispanic populations in the U.S. still find themselves either somewhat worried or extremely worried over the pandemic, while more than half of white Americans responded with either being not too worried or not worried at all. Dr. Chris Pernell, the chief strategic integration and health equity officer at University Hospital, joined Cheddar News to talk about how perceptions of COVID-19 differ between groups of Americans. "We’re still seeing people get infected, and because of the toll of the disproportionate impact, we have concerns among the Black and brown community about whether or not they have an increased risk of exposure because of where they work, because of the use of public transportation, because they live in homes that they may not be able to safely quarantine and or isolate in, and because they have at baseline chronic health conditions that may make coronavirus more severe in those persons," she said.
Judith Enck, a former regional administrator for the EPA and the president of Beyond Plastics, joined Cheddar News to talk about the role of plastics in the climate crisis and California's investigation of ExxonMobil and other oil companies for misleading the public on the ability to recycle plastics. "The reason why petrochemical companies like Exxon have gotten away with selling more and more plastic is that they've lied to the public and told us don't worry about all those negative upstream impacts and downstream impacts of plastics. Just be sure to recycle it. Well, guess what? Plastics largely are not recycled," Enck said.
