{"id":3749,"date":"2019-09-19T02:18:11","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T02:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=3749"},"modified":"2019-09-19T02:18:11","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T02:18:11","slug":"trump-europeans-push-to-keep-space-for-iran-diplomacy-after-saudi-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2019\/09\/19\/trump-europeans-push-to-keep-space-for-iran-diplomacy-after-saudi-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump, Europeans push to keep space for Iran diplomacy after Saudi attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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ARTICLE SUMMARYFollowing strikes on Saudi oil facilities, Donald Trump stated his desire to avoid escalation with Iran. Mandel Ngan\/Pool via REUTERSUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo walks after stepping off his plane upon arrival at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 18, 2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resisting pressure from hawks to respond with force to the weekend attacks in Saudi Arabia, President Donald Trump said today he was ordering more economic sanctions on Iran. Yet he also said he believes that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his delegation should be allowed to come to the UN General Assembly in New York next week. Trump\u2019s comments expressing his desire to avoid an escalation come as European diplomats forge ahead with efforts to get the parties to the table at the UN to reduce tensions and avoid war with Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe definitely need to start a new phase where people will sit at the table and try to resolve issues,\u201d a senior European diplomat at the UN said today. \u201cWe are actively pushing to make sure that reasonable decisions could be taken in the days, weeks, months to come. We would encourage all sides to change course of action and be reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf it was up to me, I would let them come,\u201d Trump told reporters traveling with him on Air Force One in California today, when asked if Rouhani should come to the UN next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always felt the United Nations is very important,\u201d Trump continued. \u201cI would certainly not want to keep people out if they want to come.\u201dALSO READ<\/strong><\/a>SYRIA CONFLICT<\/strong>Congress aims to restore Syria stabilization aid<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump ribbed Republican ally Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who suggested the Iranians had been emboldened to carry out drone and cruise missile attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia because Trump had not responded with force to the Iranian downing of an unmanned US drone in June. Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attacks in the kingdom over the weekend, while Iran has denied involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI actually think it\u2019s a sign of strength,\u201d Trump said regarding not responding with force against Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAsk Lindsey, how did going into the Middle East, how did that work out? And how did going into Iraq work out?\u201d Trump continued, in language similar to the kind he used to mock John Bolton last week, when he asked him to resign as national security adviser. \u201cSo, we have a disagreement on that. And we have plenty of time to do some dastardly things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very easy to start,\u201d Trump said, of military action. \u201cWe\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States and UN have sent investigators to the site of the sophisticated attacks to determine the perpetrator, and have not yet announced the results. But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has repeatedly said that he holds the Iranians responsible for what he today called an act of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Saudis were the nation that was attacked,\u201d Pompeo told reporters traveling with him to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, today. \u201cIt was an act of war against them directly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s comments came amid reports that some members of the Iranian delegation have experienced delays<\/a> in receiving their visas to attend the UN General Assembly, and as Pompeo seemed to justify possibly inhibiting their travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re connected to a foreign terrorist organization, I don\u2019t know, it seems to me it would be a reasonable thing to think about whether they ought to be prevented to attend a meeting which is about peace,\u201d Pompeo said en route to Jeddah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook, the actions that the Iranian regime took violated the UN charter,\u201d Pompeo said, referring to the Sept. 14 attacks on the Aramco facility that he attributed to Iran. \u201cI spoke with [UN] Secretary [General Antonio] Guterres about it yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has led efforts to open a US-Iran diplomatic track and reduce tensions, condemned the weekend attacks in a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresident Macron \u2026 assured the crown prince of France\u2019s solidarity with Saudi Arabia and its population in the face of these attacks and reaffirmed France\u2019s commitment to Saudi Arabia\u2019s security and to regional stability,\u201d the French president\u2019s office said in a readout of the call. \u201cIn response to the request received by the Saudi authorities, President Macron confirmed to the crown prince that French experts would be sent to Saudi Arabia to take part in the investigations aimed at shedding full light on who was behind the attacks \u2026 and how they were carried out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe share the desire to carefully establish the facts prior to any response,\u201d a spokesperson for France\u2019s Foreign Ministry told journalists today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macron is expected to meet with Rouhani in New York next week, as well as with Trump. Neither the French nor Trump have ruled out some sort of Trump-Rouhani encounter, while the Iranians have repeatedly said that a meeting will not happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresident Macron is extremely committed to try to contribute to de-escalation,” a French diplomat told Al-Monitor, adding, “He talks to President Rouhani on a near constant basis. Same with President Trump. We definitely need to stop new [escalation and get the parties]\u00a0to sit at the table and try to resolve issues. Nobody wants escalation. Nobody wants tragedy. Everybody should contribute to de-escalation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ARTICLE SUMMARYFollowing strikes on Saudi oil facilities, Donald Trump stated his desire to avoid escalation with Iran. Mandel Ngan\/Pool via REUTERSUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo walks after stepping off his plane upon arrival at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 18, 2019. Resisting pressure from hawks to respond with force to the weekend attacks in Saudi Arabia,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3749"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3750,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3749\/revisions\/3750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}