providing him options if in fact there is a done flikt wis is a . there were mortars shot into the diplomatic quarter by what the u.s. believes is pro iranian militias, also rockets fired in the vicinity of the u.s. consulate in basra. however none of that seems serious enough to warrant something like plans being made for possible military action in iran. we do have to say that sinpresit trump has taken office, he has taken a very hard line toward the iranians, tightened sanctions to a huge degree and of course john bolton himself also someone who has been very, very tough on iran in the past and issued some pretty staunch threats against the iranians as well. and lastly on turkey, the president warns them not to go after the kurds. then he says that the kurds can t provoke turkey. so give us context to all this.
things that have happened in the relations between the u.s. and iran. you mentioned those more are tars being fired in the vicinity of the u.s. embassy in baghdad, and also there was the konsz coe that was closed in basra. the u.s. believe there were pro iranian iraqi militias who may have been behind that. but it seem this is due to the hard line of the u.s. president and john bolton. national security council of course is tasked with providing options. they do this on a range of topics, not just on iran, but in this case it seems to be if these reports are true, something where they have been extremely hard lined on this topic and that is certainly something that meshes with president trump s policy and certainly with john bolton s views and policy as well. and finally, fred, on turkey, on the turkey developments, the president warning turkey not to go after the kurds and allies as it leaves syria, but then he says that the kurds can t provoke turkey. these sides are both allies of
on friday, secretary of state mike pompeo announced the evacuation of the u.s. consulate in basra in southern iraq. the reason, threats against the consulate and its personnel. the threats didn t come from iraq, the statement said, but from iran. this came days after national security adviser john bolton threatened there would be hell to pay if iran harmed the u.s. or its allies. joining me is iran s foreign minister, javad zarif. was there an effort for iran to use militias it has some influence with in southern iraq to threaten u.s. personnel? no. and i think the united states needs to abandon this policy of threats. it doesn t work. our consulate in basra was put ablaze two weeks ago.
it was burned to the ground, but we immediately moved to another place. so if we had this problem with our consulate, we cannot control people in basra. we, of course, have influence in iraq, but that doesn t mean we control people in iraq, as the united states doesn t control people in countries with whom it has good relations. so i think mr. pompeo and mr. bolton, instead of making these irrelevant threats that would produce no positive result, they need to look at their own policies. what about the attack you made, the threats you issued, the iranian government, when there was an attack in iran and you blamed the united states. do you believe the u.s. is actively engaged in some kind of intelligence special ops to try to unseat the iranian government? well, there was a terrorist attack. the u.n. security council condemned that attack. it was carried out by people who
isis in syria, fighting saddam hussein in iraq. president trump s best buddies in the region have a record, almost a consistent record of supporting al qaeda in afghan, supporting the taliban in afghanistan, supporting saddam hussein in iraq, supporting the extremists in syria, and now bombing civilians in yemen. people who are bombing civilians in yemen are not iranians, they re american allies using american planes, american ammunitions, killing innocent children in a school bus. you re talking, of course, about saudi arabia. next when we come back, iraq, why the trump administration evacuated a consulate in basra this weex, a week, and blamed iran for it. i ll ask the foreign minister when we come back. great question. see, for a full service brokerage like ours, that s tough to do. schwab does it.