North America

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Iran on Saturday, threatening to hit dozens of targets in the Islamic Republic “very fast and very hard” if it retaliates for the targeted killing of the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — At the midway point of his annual Christmas vacation, President Donald Trump huddled at his Florida club with his top national security advisers. Days earlier, a rocket attack by an Iranian-funded group struck a U.S.-Iraqi base, killing an American contractor and wounding several others.

Trump’s advisers presented him with an array of options for responding, including the most dramatic possible response: taking out Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force and the man responsible for hundreds of Americans deaths.

04 Jan 2019; MEMO: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday reiterated Washington’s commitment to de-escalation with Iran, following the killing of an Iranian top commander in a US airstrike in Iraq’s capital Baghdad, Anadolu Agency reports.

“I spoke today with Chinese Politburo Member Yang Jiechi to discuss [US President] DonaldTrump’s decision to eliminate [Qasem] Soleimani in response to imminent threats to American lives,” Pompeo said on Twitter.

WASHINGTON, January 3. /TASS/: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has placed the Shi’a paramilitary group Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) active in Iraq on the list of foreign terrorist organizations, claiming that the group has ties to Tehran, the US State Department informed in a statement on Friday.

"AAH and its leaders are violent proxies of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Pompeo said. "Acting on behalf of their masters in Tehran, they use violence and terror to further the Iranian regime’s efforts to undermine Iraqi sovereignty," he claimed.

WASHINGTON, January. /TASS/: The US has already identified all targets if Americans are threatened in response to Washington’s killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, US President Donald Trump said in a statement on Friday.

"The US has the best military by far anywhere in the world. We have the best intelligence in the world. If Americans anywhere are threatened, we have all of those targets already fully identified. And I am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary. And that in particular refers to Iran," Trump said.

WASHINGTON, January 4. /TASS/: President of Iraq Barham Salih agreed with the necessity of reducing tensions in the region in the telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Spokesperson of the US State Department Morgan Ortagus said.

"Secretary Pompeo discussed President Trump’s recent decision to take defensive action in response to imminent threats against American personnel. The Secretary made clear that the United States remains committed to de-escalation. President Salih agreed on the need to reduce tensions in the region," the Spokesperson said.

WASHINGTON DC, January 4. /TASS/: The US denies reports of airstrikes in the area of Al-Taji north of Baghdad, Colonel Miles Cuggins, the official representative of the Inherent Resolve twitted on Saturday.

"The coalition Inherent Resolve did not conduct airstrikes near Camp Taji (north of Baghdad) in recent days," he wrote.

As As-Sumariya television channel reported earlier, on Saturday night, the US Air Force attacked a Shiite militia column Al-Hashd al-Shaabi, which carried medical personnel.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former Mexican government official who oversaw public security in his country pleaded not guilty on Friday to U.S. charges he accepted millions of dollars in bribes to protect the Sinaloa drug cartel once run by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and let it operate with impunity.

Genaro Garcia Luna, 51, entered his plea through a translator at a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn, where lawyers signaled he may be in talks to change his plea later.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Friday justified its killing of a top Iranian general as an act of self-defense, trying to deflect accusations that it violated international law and concerns raised by legal experts and a senior U.N. rights investigator.

Qassem Soleimani, the 62-year-old commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, was killed in the U.S. air strike in Baghdad overnight. The attack, ordered by President Donald Trump, sent tensions between the United States and Iran soaring, with Iranian officials promising revenge.

04 Jan 2019; MEMO: Democratic presidential contenders on Friday condemned the air strike that killed prominent Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, saying President Donald Trump’s decision was reckless and could lead the United States to another war in the Middle East, Reuters reports.