Liz Cheney calls Nancy Pelosi an 'embarrassment' after speaker spotted at party following missile fire on US troops in Iraq

U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi an “embarrassment” Tuesday evening after Pelosi reportedly attended a Washington restaurant opening following Iran's missile fire against U.S. troops in Iraq.
“Speaker Pelosi is an embarrassment and unfit for office,” Cheney wrote as she retweetd a photo posted online purportedly showing the speaker at the restaurant in Washington's Navy Yard neighborhood.
“Closely monitoring the situation following bombings targeting U.S. troops in Iraq,” Pelosi had tweeted earlier, before she was photographed at Danny Meyer’s Maialino Mare restaurant. “We must ensure the safety of our servicemembers, including ending needless provocations from the Administration and demanding that Iran cease its violence. America & world cannot afford war.”
Washingtonian food editor Anna Spiegel, who took the photo of Pelosi at the restaurant opening, later tweeted that the speaker was at the event for only about 10 minutes.
Iran took credit for the missile launches, claiming they were in retaliation for the President Trump-ordered airstrike at Baghdad International Airport early Friday morning that killed top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
A few hours after the Iranian attack in Iraq, Trump tweeted “All is well!," and said he planned to make a further statement Wednesday morning.
“Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq,” he tweeted. “Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning.”

Joe Biden saw Iran's Clinton-era attack as 'act of war' requiring payback -- now warns Trump about 'escalatory move'

Former Vice President Joe Biden took some heat on social media this week after an old TV clip surfaced in which Biden called a deadly Iranian attack against U.S. airmen an “act of war.”
The U.S. can “take whatever action it deems appropriate,” the then-U.S. senator told ABC's Sam Donaldson on "This Week" regarding Iran’s tanker truck bombing of the Khobar Towers, a U.S. Air Force military housing complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that killed 19 airmen and injured more than 500 others.
Critics were quick to point out the difference between Biden's rhetoric back then -- when Democrat Bill Clinton was president -- and his rebuke this week of the U.S. airstrike ordered by President Trump that killed top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani last Friday, which Biden called a “hugely escalatory move.”
"Didn't Joe just criticize President Trump for doing exactly what he states in this interview should be done?" one Twitter user wrote. "How can people stand this level of lies and hypocrisy? Either side? What have we become? Lie when it benefits you."
"Hypocrisy just comes naturally to all Democrats," another Twitter user wrote.
In his statement this week, Biden said: "President Trump just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox, and he owes the American people an explanation of the strategy and plan to keep safe our troops and embassy personnel, our people and our interests, both here at home and abroad, and our partners throughout the region and beyond."
Biden has not made a statement on his previous remarks.

Iran's Oil Supply Cartoons

Shares rebound, oil prices retreat despite US-Iran woes

Just shows the world doesn't really give a damn about creepy old Iran.

BANGKOK (AP) — Global stocks rebounded Tuesday following modest gains on Wall Street, despite caution over rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

U.S. officials were bracing for Iran’s response to the killing by a U.S. drone of its most powerful general, Qassem Soleimani. Noting heightened levels of military readiness in the country, Washington was preparing for a possible “tit-for-tat” attack on an American military leader.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX advanced 1% to 13,252.48 while the CAC 40 in France climbed 0.6% to 6,052.34. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.1% higher to 7,585.16. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.2% higher,

“The positive sentiment is likely to continue for the remainder of the day as the underlying drivers of the stock market rally, the search for yield and global economic recovery, reassert themselves,” Jeffrey Halley of Oanda said in a commentary. “Only geopolitical headlines surprises from the Middle East are now likely to derail the rally.”

In Asia, most benchmarks rose, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index adding 1.6% to 23,575.72. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng picked up 0.3% to 28,322.06, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.7% to 3,104.80. In South Korea, the Kospi rose 1% to 2,175.54. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 climbed 1.4% to 6,826.40. Shares fell 0.6% in Taiwan but rose in most of Southeast Asia.

Gold was steady Tuesday after touching its highest price since April 2013 on Monday as investors sought safety amid fears the antagonisms could lead to war. It was down 40 cents at $1,568.40 per ounce.

Gold has historically performed well in times of military conflict and has climbed more than $40 since before Soleimani’s killing.

Oil prices gave up some of their recent big gains on Tuesday, with benchmark U.S. crude dropping 35 cents, or 0.6%, to $62.92 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 22 cents to $63.27 per barrel on Monday.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, lost 45 cents, or 0.7%, to $68.46 per barrel. On Monday it added 31 cents to $68.91 per barrel.

In currency trading, the dollar rose to 108.46 Japanese yen from 108.33 yen on Monday. The euro slipped to $1.1185 from $1.1194.

Apart from waiting for next steps in the clash between the United States and Iran, several big economic reports are on the schedule this upcoming week that could move markets. The headliner is Friday’s jobs report from the government.

Solid jobs growth has helped support the U.S. economy, even as trade wars hurt manufacturing around the world. Economists expect Friday’s report to show that employers added 155,000 jobs last month. The healthy job market is one of the reasons the S&P 500 soared to its second-best showing in 22 years in 2019. Big moves by central banks around the world to shield the economy from the pain of trade wars also were big factors.

Iran TV: 35 killed in stampede at funeral for slain general

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A stampede erupted Tuesday at a funeral procession for a top Iranian general killed in a U.S. airstrike last week, killing 35 people and injuring 48 others, state television reported.

According to the report, the stampede took place in Kerman, the hometown of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, as the procession got underway. Initial videos posted online showed people lying lifeless on a road, others shouting and trying to give help them.

Iranian state TV gave the casualty toll in its online report, without saying where it obtained the information. Pirhossein Koulivand, the head of Iran’s emergency medical services, earlier spoke by telephone to state TV and confirmed the stampede took place.

“Unfortunately as a result of the stampede, some of our compatriots have been injured and some have been killed during the funeral processions,” he said.

A procession in Tehran on Monday drew over 1 million people in the Iranian capital, crowding both main thoroughfares and side streets in Tehran.

THIS IS A MAJOR NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story is below.

The leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened on Tuesday to “set ablaze” places supported by the United States over the killing of a top Iranian general in a U.S. airstrike last week, sparking cries from the crowd of supporters of “Death to Israel!”

Hossein Salami made the pledge before a crowd of thousands gathered in a central square in Kerman, the hometown of the slain Gen. Qassem Soleimani. His vow mirrored the demands of top Iranian officials — from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to others — as well as supporters across the Islamic Republic, demanding retaliation against America for a slaying that’s drastically raised tensions across the Middle East.

Mourners in Kerman dressed in black carried posters bearing the image of Soleimani, a man whose slaying prompted Iran’s supreme leader to weep over his casket on Monday as a crowd said by police to be in the millions filled Tehran streets. Although there was no independent estimate, aerial footage and Associated Press journalists suggested a turnout of at least 1 million, and the throngs were visible on satellite images of Tehran taken Monday.

The outpouring of grief was an unprecedented honor for a man viewed by Iranians as a national hero for his work leading the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force. The U.S. blames him for the killing of American troops in Iraq and accused him of plotting new attacks just before his death Friday in a drone strike near Baghdad’s airport. Soleimani also led forces in Syria backing President Bashar Assad in a long war, and he also served as the point man for Iranian proxies in countries like Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

His slaying already has pushed Tehran to abandon the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers as his successor and others vow to take revenge. In Baghdad, the parliament has called for the expulsion of all American troops from Iraqi soil, something analysts fear could allow Islamic State militants to mount a comeback.

Soleimani’s remains and those of the others killed in the airstrike were brought to a central square in Kerman, a desert city surrounded by mountains that dates back to the days of the Silk Road.

Speaking in Kerman, Salami praised Soleimani’s exploits, describing him as essential to backing Palestinian groups, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria. As a martyr, Soleimani represented an even greater threat to Iran’s enemies, Salami said.

“We will take revenge. We will set ablaze where they like,” Salami said, drawing the cries of “Death to Israel!”

Israel is a longtime regional foe of Iran.

According to a report on Tuesday by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Iran has worked up 13 sets of plans for revenge for Soleimani’s killing. The report quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, as saying that even the weakest among them would be a “historic nightmare” for the U.S. He declined to give any details,

“If the U.S. troops do not leave our region voluntarily and upright, we will do something to carry their bodies horizontally out,” Shamkhani said.

Iran’s parliament, meanwhile, passed an urgent bill declaring the U.S. military’s command at the Pentagon and those acting on its behalf in Soleimani’s killing as “terrorists,” subject to Iranian sanctions. The measure appears to be an attempt to mirror a decision by President Donald Trump in April to declare the Revolutionary Guard a “terrorist organization.”

The U.S. Defense Department used the Guard’s designation as a terror organization in the U.S. to support the strike that killed Soleimani. The decision by Iran’s parliament, done by a special procedure to speed the bill to law, comes as officials across the country threaten to retaliate for Soleimani’s killing.

The vote also saw lawmakers approve funding for the Quds Force with an additional 200 million euros, or about $224 million.

Also Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the U.S. had declined to issue him a visa to travel to New York for upcoming meetings at the United Nations. The U.S. as the host of the U.N. headquarters is supposed to allow foreign officials to attend such meetings.

“This is because they fear someone will go there and tell the truth to the American people,” Zarif said. “But they are mistaken. The world is not limited to New York. You can speak with American people from Tehran too and we will do that.”

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Solemani will be buried later Tuesday between the graves of Enayatollah Talebizadeh and Mohammad Hossein Yousef Elahi, two former Guard comrades. The two died in Operation Dawn 8 in Iran’s 1980s war with Iraq in which Soleimani also took part, a 1986 amphibious assault that cut Iraq off from the Persian Gulf and led to the end of the bloody war that killed 1 million people.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Elephant Walk at Utah Air Force Base showcases 52 F-35s launching in a row

An Air Force base in Utah staged a massive ‘elephant walk’ that featured 52 of one of the country’s most advanced fighter jets launching in a row.
The F-35A II Lightning fighters were part of the Active Duty 388th and Reserve 419th fighter wings at the Hill Air Force Base in the northern part of the state, according to AirForceMag.com. The base is home to 78 of the  Fifth Generation fighters.
"Today's exercise marks the accomplishment of over four years of work — a little over four years ago, we received our first F-35," Col. Michael Ebner, 388th Wing vice commander, told the Deseret News. "We now have our full complement of aircraft and locally, we turn this into a goal of full war-fighting capability."
An “elephant walk” refers to the close formation of military aircraft before takeoff.
The base reportedly said the exercise has been planned for months but comes at a time of extreme tension between Iran and the U.S. President  Trump last week ordered the killing of a top general in Tehran. The 388th Fighter Wing tweeted a photo of the rows of jets on the runway and wrote, “We are now at full warfighting capability.”
The 388th is an operational unit that has already sent one F-35A squadron overseas on a deployment to the Middle East. That unit has since returned and a second F-35A squadron from Hill is now deployed in that region.
“The message is not just to potential adversaries, but it’s also to our nation’s leadership that they can count on the 388th Fighter Wing to support the combat power that they plan and require us to provide,” Ebner told the paper.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

Netanyahu says Israel should 'stay out' of fallout from US killing of Soleimani, per report

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to distance himself from the U.S.-led airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, telling Security Cabinet ministers on Monday that Israel should "stay out of it."
“The killing of Soleimani is a U.S. event, not an Israeli event, and we should stay out of it," Netanyahu said, according to reports by Axios that cited two ministers who attended the meeting.

The prime minister gave further instructions for Cabinet officials not to engage the press in commentary about the attack -- which has ramped up the tensions between the U.S. and the Middle East and escalated the likelihood of a retaliatory attack -- in order to ensure that Israel's longtime rivals do not get the impression that it was involved in Thursday's deadly drone strike.
The director of Mossad, a branch of the Israeli Intelligence Community, told ministers they were not expecting any attacks from Iran because "Israel stayed in a distance from the incident," adding that the leaders should expect Iran efforts towards retaliation to become more apparent on Tuesday after the national three-day period of mourning for Soleimani is over.
A former chief of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said Sunday the Israeli city of Haifa and Israeli military centers would be included in Tehran’s retaliation for Soleimani's death, according to Reuters.
“Iran’s revenge against America for the assassination of Soleimani will be severe. ... Haifa and Israeli military centers will be included in the retaliation,” Mohsen Rezaei said in a televised speech to mourners in Tehran.
Following the attack, where the U.S. launched three rockets at Baghdad International Airport, killing the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force as well as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, and five other people, Netanyahu issued a statement with brief congratulatory remarks to President Trump, a longstanding ally in the region.
"Qassem Soleimani brought about the death of many American citizens and many other innocents in recent decades and at present. Soleimani initiated, planned and carried out many terrorist attacks throughout the Middle East and beyond," Netanyahu said. “President Trump is deserving of all esteem for taking determined, strong and quick action. I would like to reiterate — Israel fully stands alongside the U.S. in the just struggle for security, peace and self-defense.”
Netanyahu reiterated to Cabinet ministers Monday that although Israel did not take part in the attack, they support the U.S.' right to defend itself.

Iran’s supreme leader Cartoons