Trump returns to White House early, offers year-end message

[size=38]Trump returns to White House early, offers year-end message[/size]


Thursday, December 31, 2020





WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump delivered a year-end video message Thursday after returning early from vacation, highlighting his administration’s work to rapidly develop a vaccine against COVID-19 and rebuild the economy.
As the end of his presidency neared, Trump cut short his stay at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and got back to the White House a day ahead of schedule.
Upon his return, Trump released a video message over Twitter to underscore his administration’s work on the vaccine, economic stimulus checks and America’s “grit, strength and tenacity” in the face of challenges.
He called the vaccine, which is rolling out nationwide, a “truly unprecedented medical miracle” and said it would be available to every American early this coming year. “We have to be remembered for what’s been done,” Trump said in the nearly five-minute message.
The White House didn’t give a reason for Trump’s early return, and the schedule change means Trump will miss the glitzy New Year’s Eve party held annually at his Palm Beach club.

But it comes as tensions escalate between the United States and Iran in the final weeks of his administration. There is concern in Washington that Iran could order further military retaliation for the U.S. killing last Jan. 3 of top Iranian military commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Iran’s initial response, five days after that deadly U.S. drone strike, was a ballistic missile attack on a military base in Iraq that caused brain concussion injuries to about 100 U.S. troops.
Iranian-supported Shiite militia groups launched a rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Dec. 20. No one was killed, but Trump said days later that Iran was on notice.


https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/dec/31/trump-returns-to-white-house-early-offers-year-end/

[size=34]Trump plotting false flag to ‘fabricate pretext’ for attack on Iran, Foreign Minister Zarif says[/size]
31 Dec, 2020 21:12






Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has claimed “intelligence from Iraq” suggests the US is plotting to “fabricate” a reason to wage war on Iran. Stressing Tehran “doesn’t seek war,” he warned such a scam will be met with force.

Accusing US President Donald Trump and his cabinet of “wast[ing] billions” to surround Iran with air and naval military assets while Americans are suffering with Covid-19, Zarif revealed in a tweet on Thursday that Iraqi intelligence had tipped off Tehran to a US “plot to FABRICATE pretext for war.”



“Iran doesn’t seek war but will OPENLY & DIRECTLY defend its people, security & vital interests,” the diplomat continued.


Tensions between the two countries are running exceptionally high due to the approaching anniversary of the US assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, the Quds Force leader killed in an airstrike in Baghdad on January 3.


While Iran retaliated at the time by striking two US bases in Iraq, allegedly causing brain injuries in an uncertain number of soldiers stationed there, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei renewed calls for “revenge” earlier this month, adding that Iranians should not “forget enmities” with the US government, no matter who is serving as president.


The US sent two B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf earlier this week in a show of force, triggering outrage from Tehran. A military adviser to the Ayatollah reminded Washington that “all their military bases are covered by our missiles” and urged Trump not to “turn the New Year into mourning for Americans.” Another military officer warned that the US would meet a “crushing and fiery response” if the planes breached the country’s airspace.




The US has attempted to pin numerous apparent false flag attacks on Iran under the Trump administration, from the mysterious holes appearing in Saudi and Japanese oil tankers to the endless stream of rockets landing in Baghdad’s Green Zone that have an uncanny knack for coming to rest in unpopulated spaces. Trump’s financial backers for both the 2020 and 2016 elections were dominated by rabid Iran hawks, and the president’s ‘failure’ to start a war with their favorite bogeyman is no doubt weighing on the White House.

While Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA nuclear deal in 2018, not merely reimposing sanctions but actually adopting new ones, Washington’s efforts to bend the other signatories to its will had mixed results. Insisting that Iran hold tight to the terms of a deal to which the US was no longer a part of, the White House didn’t get many takers.

https://www.rt.com/news/511269-zarif-warns-trump-false-flag/

An American aircraft carrier leaves the area, and the Pentagon reveals the reason


3 hours ago










[size=17]The Pentagon announced, Friday, that the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz has left the Central Command's area of ​​operations in the Middle East towards the "Norfolk" naval base in Virginia.[/size]