Press Briefing
PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO AND SECRETARY OF DEFENSE MARK ESPER
December 29, 2019
Mar-a-Lago
Palm Beach, Florida
6:49 P.M. EST
SECRETARY POMPEO: Good evening. Myself, with Secretary Esper, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Milley, came here to Florida today to brief the President on the activities that have taken place in the Middle East over the course of the last 72 hours.
I will leave to Secretary Esper to talk about the military activity, but I want to put it in the context of our policy with respect to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The attacks that took place against an Iraqi facility threatened American forces. This has been going on now for weeks and weeks and weeks. This wasn't the first set of attacks against this particular Iraqi facility and others where there were American lives at risk.
And today, what we did was take a decisive response that makes clear what President Trump has said for months and months and months, which is that we will not stand for the Islamic Republic of Iran to take actions that put American men and women in jeopardy.
We will - we will always honor that commitment to take decisive action when that takes place, and we continue to demand that the Islamic Republic of Iran act in a way that is consistent with what I laid out, back in May of 2018, for what it is that we expect Iran to do so that it can rejoin the community of nations.
And with that, I'll turn it over to the Secretary of Defense.
SECRETARY ESPER: Thank you. As we reported earlier today, the Department of Defense took offensive actions in defense of our personnel and interests in Iraq by launching F-15 Strike Eagles against five targets associated with Kata'ib Hezbollah, which is an Iranian-sponsored Shiite militia group. The targets we attacked included three targets in Western Iraq and two targets in Eastern Syria that were either command and control facilities or weapons caches for Kata'ib Hezbollah.
The strikes were successful. The pilots and aircraft returned back to base safely. I would add that, in our discussion today with the President, we discussed with him other options that are available. And I would note also that we will take additional actions as necessary to ensure that we act in our own self-defense and we deter further bad behavior from militia groups or from Iran. Thank you.
Focus on Israel
1. Iran vows revenge for US strike, PM thanks Pompeo - Israel Hayom Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu thanked United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday, a day after the US launched airstrikes against Iranian-affiliated forces in Iraq and Syria.
"Benjamin Netanyahu spoke today with US Secretary of State Pompeo and commended him on the important US action against Iran and its proxies in the region," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.
The US military carried out airstrikes on Sunday against the Iranian-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah militia group in response to the killing of a US civilian contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base, officials said. The airstrikes apparently killed more than 20 people.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps warned the US that it might face retaliation for the strikes. "It is a natural right of people and defense forces of Iraq to avenge this act of terrorism accordingly," the IRGC said in a statement according to the Tasnim news agency.
2. Ex-IDF intel chief: Now that US engaged Iran, Israel must be careful - Jerusalem Post
Following Sunday's US airstrikes on Iranian-affiliated militias in Iraq, Israel must now be more careful about its own airstrikes in Iraq, former IDF intelligence chief Amos Yadlin tweeted on Monday.
Yadlin said that the US decision to directly engage Iran and its proxies with kinetic force was "the crossing of a rubicon" in which the US set down a red-line for Iran that it will respond with military force if the Islamic republic kills Americans.
This past weekend a missile attack from an Iran-affiliated militia killed a US contractor and wounded US soldiers at a base in Iraq. Iranian-affiliated militias had launched missile attacks on US forces for several weeks, but this was the first attack in which an American was killed.
Until now, many Israeli officials had criticized the Trump administration for failing to use force to respond to Iran's shooting down of a US drone, to an Islamic republic attack on Saudi oil fields and to the missile attacks on US bases.
3. Netanyahu said to formulate immunity request, inform Knesset speaker of plan - Times Of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made a final decision to ask the Knesset to grant him immunity from prosecution in three corruption cases and informed Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein in writing of his intention, according to a television report Monday evening that was swiftly denied.
The premier has formulated his request and alerted Edelstein, Channel 13 reported.
The unsourced television report said that Netanyahu wrote in the letter that he would be willing to face criminal prosecution, but only after he leaves political life.
He reportedly argued that trying him now would compromise the will of the electorate and harm the Knesset, since many of the witnesses in the trial are current lawmakers; that it would discriminate against him, since indictments haven't been filed against other politicians; and that the charges were announced in "bad faith" since Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit made his decision too soon after the pre-indictment hearing and the process was marred by numerous leaks to the press.
4. NY woman set free without bail for attacks on Jews attacks again - Israel National News
A woman who was released without bail after assaulting three Jews in New York was rearrested a day after her release after committing another assault.
Tiffany Harris, a 30-year-old woman charged with punching and cursing three Jewish women in Crown Heights, was arrested on charges of menacing, harassment, and attempted assault. Though she admited to both slapping and cursing her victims, and the current case is not the first time she has committed assault, she was released after a few hours without prosecutors even requesting bail.
Harris has now been accused of punching a 35-year-old in the face in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, on Sunday, the New York Post reported.
It is unknown if Harris' latest victim is Jewish. Police are not treating the incident as a hate crime.
5. President Rivlin Invites Pope Francis to Visit Jerusalem - Jewish Press
President Reuven Rivlin on Monday, December 30, held the traditional reception for the heads of the Christian denominations in Israel to celebrate the new year at the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem, and used the occasion to invite the Pope to visit and participate in the 2020 official dedication ceremony of Land of the Monasteries, an extensive project to make old churches and monasteries accessible to Christians and pilgrims from around the world.
"As guardians of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, the State of Israel is committed to religious freedom for all," the president noted. "As part of Israel's commitment to ensure access to holy sites, I am happy to update you that we are about to finish clearing all of the mines from the Land of the Monasteries at the very beginning of the coming year. Already the number of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land is increasing each year. Just this year, close to 900,000 pilgrims visited the Land of Monasteries. We are working hard to complete the development of the entire area by the end of 2020."
The Daily Brief
1. South Dakota, 2 other states file lawsuit seeking to block ERA ratification - AP
MONTGOMERY, Ala. | Alabama, Louisiana and South Dakota have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the addition of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Alabama's attorney general announced Wednesday.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Alabama comes in response to a renewed push to get the required 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, which would ban discrimination on the basis of sex. The lawsuit notes that Congress set a 1982 deadline to get the required 38 states to agree and seeks to prevent David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, from accepting a new ratification from a state.
"The South Dakota Legislature ratified the ERA in 1973, but in 1979 passed Senate Joint Resolution 2 which required the ERA be ratified in the original time limit set by Congress or be rescinded. Because thirty-eight states failed to ratify the amendment by March 31, 1979, the South Dakota Legislature rescinded its ratification of the ERA," said South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg. "It is the duty of the Attorney General to defend and support our Legislature. It would be a disservice to the citizens of South Dakota to ignore this obligation of my office.
"This is an issue of following the rule of law, the rules that our founding fathers put into place to protect us from government making decisions without the consent or support of 'we the people.'" continued Ravnsborg. (Read more)
- Father, we ask that Alabama and South Dakota will win the lawsuit to block the addition of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. We pray God sends an angel to block this Amendment. We ask in the Name of Jesus.
- "For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery." (Job 15:34)
2. US conducts airstrikes in Iraq, Syria after contractor killed, American troops injured in rocket attack - Fox News
The U.S. military carried out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on Sunday - days after a U.S. defense contractor was killed at a military compound in a rocket attack. Military jet fighters conducted "precision defensive strikes" on five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Iraqi militia, Jonathan Hoffman, a spokesperson for the Pentagon told Fox News. Two defense officials added that Air Force F-15 jet fighters carried out the strikes.
U.S. officials have blamed the militia for a rocket barrage Friday that killed a U.S. defense contractor, wounded four U.S. troops and two members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) near Kirkuk, in northern Iraq.
Military forces said the attackers fired more than 30 rockets in Friday's assault - the 11th rocket attack on U.S. and Iraqi forces since late October, according to a U.S. defense official. Five locations - including three Kataeb Hezbollah areas in Iraq and two in Syria - were targeted, Hoffman said in a statement. He said the U.S. strikes will weaken the group's ability to carry out future attacks on Americans and their Iraqi government allies. (Read more)
- Almighty God, we pray that the air will be filled with angels sent from heaven that will block the enemy's militia from firing any more rockets at the Americans. God, may the Airforce F-15 jet fighters destroy Hezbollah wherever they are and take out the enemy. We pray in the Name of Jesus.
- "Surely Got did set them in slippery places, He casts them down into destruction."(Psalm 73:18)
3. Iran-Backed Iraqi Militias Vow to Retaliate After US Military Strikes on Five Bases - CNSNews.com
Al-Manar, an official media outlet of another Iranian proxy, Hezbollah in Lebanon, quoted a Kata'ib Hezbollah (KH) spokesman, Jaafar Al-Husseini, as saying 24 "martyrs" had been killed in the U.S. strikes on bases in Iraq's western Anbar province, and more than 50 wounded. "Al-Husseini warned that the U.S. aggression will be met with an appropriate response," Al-Manar added.
KH, an Iraqi militia supported by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qods Force, is one of several Iraqi Shi'ite militias held responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. troops during the Iraq War. It has been a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO) since 2009. KH continues to operate in Iraq as part of the so-called "Popular Mobilization Forces" (PMF), formed in 2015 to help Iraqi troops fight Sunni ISIS terrorists. (Read more)
- Almighty God, we pray that the U.S. military will take action to stop Iran-backed Iraqi militias and push them back. Bring them down, Lord, and destroy their evil attacks. In the Name of Jesus.
- "Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them. I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them." (Hosea 13:7-8)
4. Top Iranian official: Israel 'will regret' attacks in Syria; day after strike near Damascus - watch.org
A top Iranian official said that Israel "will regret" its attacks in Syria, which have reportedly targeted Iranian resources and weapons shipments.
The Israeli attacks "will not pass without a response," Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in an interview with the Russia Today's Arabic channel that was published Monday.
His remarks came out a day after an airstrike in Syria that Damascus officials blamed on Israel and that reportedly killed three, foreign pro-regime fighters, likely Iranians. It was not clear if Velayati had spoken to the station before or after the Sunday missile attack. (Read more)
- Father God, protect Israel as it defends itself. Cause Israel to intercept all of its enemy's secret plans to come to light before any strikes can be launched. Weaken their enemies and drive down their weapons of war into the ground. In the Name of Jesus we pray.
- "There shall no man be able to stand before Israel: for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that you shall tread upon as the Lord has said unto you." (Deuteronomy 11:25)
5. New Russian weapon can travel 27 times the speed of sound - AP
MOSCOW (AP) - A new intercontinental weapon that can fly 27 times the speed of sound became operational Friday, Russia's defense minister reported to President Vladimir Putin, bolstering the country's nuclear strike capability. Putin has described the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle as a technological breakthrough comparable to the 1957 Soviet launch of the first satellite. The new Russian weapon and a similar system being developed by China have troubled the United States, which has pondered defense strategies. The Avangard is launched atop an intercontinental ballistic missile, but unlike a regular missile warhead that follows a predictable path after separation it can make sharp maneuvers in the atmosphere en route to target, making it much harder to intercept. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Putin that the first missile unit equipped with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered combat duty. "I congratulate you on this landmark event for the military and the entire nation," Shoigu said later during a conference call with top military leaders. (Read more)
- Father God, we pray that the weapons of our Russian enemies shall falter and fail to pass the test when competing with the United States. We trust that God's power over the wickedness of that nation shall undermine all their supposed successes and bring them down. In the Name of Jesus we pray.
- "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." (2 Corinthians 10:4)
6. China, Russia, Iran to hold joint naval drills - yahoo.com
Beijing (AFP) - China, Russia and Iran will hold joint naval drills starting Friday in the Gulf of Oman, Beijing and Tehran said, at a time of heightened tensions since the US withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran. Set to take place from December 27 to 30, the military exercises aim to "deepen exchange and cooperation between the navies of the three countries", Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian told reporters Thursday.
Wu said the Chinese navy would deploy its Xining guided missile destroyer -- nicknamed the "carrier killer" for its array of anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles -- in the drills. But he did not give details on how many personnel or ships would take part overall. (Read more)
- Almighty God, we pray that You never allow the wicked to prosper as they plan to kill and destroy. In the Name of Jesus we pray.
- "For the Lord has driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man has been able to stand before you unto this day." (Joshua 23:9)
7. Russia Rejects Extending Iran Arms Embargo, Defying U.S. - Bloomberg
Russia, seeing prospects for multi-billion dollar deals, ruled out extending a United Nations-approved arms embargo on Iran that expires in October next year, despite U.S. warnings that lifting the restrictions will jeopardize global security. "We're not ready to do the bidding of our American colleagues," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency in an interview published Friday.
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo earlier this year warned that allowing renewed weapons sales to Iran will mean the country will be "unleashed to create new global turmoil."
The removal of the UN arms embargo within five years was part of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which the U.S. withdrew from last year. President Donald Trump's administration has pursued a policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran in a bid to force the Islamic Republic back to the negotiating table. Russia, China and European powers have tried unsuccessfully to salvage the landmark accord curbing Iran's nuclear activities, though formally it's still in existence. (Read more)
- Father, we pray that Russia, China and European powers come under the total control of Almighty God. We ask that the UN arms embargo will remain intact. God, send a holy restraining power against Iran and hold them back from causing all-out war between nations. Stop Iran, Lord. In the Name of Jesus.
- "Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." (Isaiah 13:9)
8. Sen. Lankford: Trump Not 'A Role Model' But 'Tenaciously Pro-Life' - Daily Caller
Republican Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford said Sunday that President Donald Trump may not be "a role model for a lot of youth" but he supports him because he's "tenaciously pro-life."
"I don't think that President Trump as a person is a role model for a lot of youth. That's me personally. I don't like the way that he tweets, some of the things that he says. His word choices at times are not my word choices. He comes across with more New York City swagger than I do from the Midwest," Lankford told CBS News' "Face the Nation."
The senator continued, saying that while he may object to the president's style at times, "there are policy areas where we agree on the issues of abortion for instance, he's been tenaciously pro-life. He's focused on putting people around him that are very focused on religious liberty, not honoring a particular faith, but honoring any person of any faith to go be able to live and practice that faith and have respect for that," Lankford said. (Read more)
- ALMIGHTY GOD, bless Senator Lankford for standing with President Trump on the issue of abortion and saving the lives of babies. as well as religious liberty and honoring people's faith. Make him strong and effective as he stands for the good of our people and country, and for God. In Jesus' Name we pray.
- "Who is wise, and he shall understand these things. Prudent, and he shall know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them." (Hosea 14:9)
9. Joe Biden Attacked Texas Concealed-Carry Law That Prevented A Massacre Sunday - The Federalist
On Sunday morning a gunman opened fire at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas. The gunman shot two people before an armed person in the congregation shot him seconds after the gunman opened fire. One of the victims is reportedly in critical condition, the other has died. . .
The congregation member's protective gun carrying was possible thanks to a new law allowing Texans to carry guns in places of worship. The bill was signed in June by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
2020 Democratic hopeful Joe Biden attacked Abbott for signing this law. He called it "irrational."
"It is irrational, with all due respect to the Governor of Texas, it's irrational what they're doing. And we're talking about loosening access to have guns? Being able to take them into places of worship, store them in schools, it's just absolutely irrational," Biden said. (Read more)
- Father God, we pray that Mr. Biden concedes to the fact that the security guard at the church was the one who intervened and shot the gunman in self-defense, before the gunman continued to shoot/kill more church members. Close the mouth of Mr. Biden so as not to lie about the true facts about this event. We express condolences to the relatives of the two who were killed. May they be comforted in this time of sorrow, in the name of Jesus, we pray.
- Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)
10. Earth's Magnetic North Pole Continues Drifting, Crosses Prime Meridian - LiveScience
Earth's magnetic north pole, which has been wandering faster than expected in recent years, has now crossed the prime meridian.
Magnetic north has been lurching away from its previous home in the Canadian Arctic toward Siberia at a rate of about 34 miles (55 kilometers) a year over the past two decades. The latest model of the Earth's magnetic field, released Dec. 10 by the National Centers for Environmental Information and the British Geological Survey, predicts that this movement will continue, though likely at a slower rate of 25 miles (40 km) each year.
This model is used to calibrate GPS and other navigation measurements.
It's currently unclear whether Earth's magnetic poles are headed for a flip-flop - switching north and south - or whether the magnetic field will soon strengthen again. Both events have happened in Earth's history without any notable effect on biology. However, modern navigation systems rely on magnetic north and will have to be recalibrated as the poles continue to wander.
Already, for example, airports have had to rename some of their runways, which have names based on compass directions. (Read more)
- Father, signs like these are predicted in the Bible. The magnetic north and south poles and the navigation systems will be changing and are in the hands of God in heaven. Lord, let the attention be given to God who controls all the signs and wonders in heaven and earth. We pray in the Name of Jesus.
- "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)