Iran Blasts US Over Trump Plot Intelligence as USS Abraham Lincoln Nears 250 Days at Sea
Updated
Updated · Middle East Eye · Aug 13
Iran Blasts US Over Trump Plot Intelligence as USS Abraham Lincoln Nears 250 Days at Sea
3 articles · Updated · Middle East Eye · Aug 13
Summary
Abbas Araghchi accused Washington of letting “fake intelligence” drive it into war with Iran, after reports said CIA analysts doubted an Israeli warning of an Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump in Turkey.
The warning still triggered a secret security operation during last month’s NATO summit in Ankara, with Trump switched between aircraft and flown out on an alternative military plane; Trump confirmed the move on Tuesday.
Turkish officials, according to reports cited by the Washington Post and earlier by Middle East Eye, viewed the Israeli tip as a ruse aimed at disrupting negotiations with Tehran.
The dispute unfolded alongside dueling claims over the Strait of Hormuz, with an Iranian Basij commander saying the waterway was under Iran’s control a day after Trump said the US had “total control.”
Separately, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal pressed the Pentagon over conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose roughly 5,000 sailors and marines have spent nearly 250 consecutive days at sea after its diversion to the Middle East.