Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Tensions Between Some Tahoe Residents and Wildlife Workers Become Unbearable

16 hours ago

California Republican Leader Calls for ‘Two State Solution’ Amid Redistricting Fight

17 hours ago

Three Dead in Minneapolis Shooting, Including Shooter, Justice Department Official Says

18 hours ago

Israeli Tanks Close in on Gaza City, Trump to Chair Meeting

19 hours ago

Trump Says Soros and His Son Should Be Charged With RICO

19 hours ago

Wall Street Opens Muted in Countdown to Nvidia Earnings

19 hours ago

Fresno Leaders Voice ‘Full Support’ for Pismo’s Restaurant Manager in ICE Custody

2 days ago

Poll: Katie Porter Holds Early Edge in California Governor’s Race

2 days ago

Just 38% of Americans Support Trump’s Use of Troops to Police DC, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

2 days ago

California Farming Couple Seeks $300 Million for Aspen Estate

2 days ago
Iran Sends Mixed Signals as Tensions With US Ease
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
January 9, 2020

Share

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran sent mixed signals Thursday as tensions with the U.S. appeared to ease, with President Hassan Rouhani warning of a “very dangerous response” if the U.S. makes “another mistake” and a senior commander vowing “harsher revenge” for the killing of a top Iranian general.
Both sides appeared to step back on Wednesday after Iran launched a series of ballistic missiles at two military bases housing American troops in Iraq without causing any casualties. Iran said the attack was retaliation for the U.S. strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the architect of its regional security strategy, in Iraq earlier this week.
Rouhani said the missile attack was a legitimate act of self-defense under the U.N. Charter, but he warned that “if the U.S. makes another mistake, it will receive a very dangerous response.”
In addition to launching the missile attack, Iran also abandoned its remaining commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, which President Donald Trump had walked away from in May 2018. But Rouhani said Thursday that Iran would continue to cooperate with U.N. inspectors.
Senior Iranian military commanders struck a more defiant tone.
Abdollah Araghi, a member of Iran’s joint chiefs of staff, said the Revolutionary Guard “will impose a harsher revenge on the enemy in the near future,” according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Tasnim also quoted Gen. Ali Fadavi, the acting commander of the Guard, as saying the missile attack was “just one of the manifestations of our abilities.”

Mourners attend a funeral ceremony for Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and his comrades, who were killed in Iraq in a U.S. drone strike on Friday, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) square in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Jan. 6, 2020. The processions mark the first time Iran honored a single man with a multi-city ceremony. Not even Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic, received such a processional with his death in 1989. Soleimani on Monday will lie in state at Tehran’s famed Musalla mosque as the revolutionary leader did before him. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Fueling Concerns That Iran’s Regional Proxies May Carry out Attacks

“We sent dozens of missiles into the heart of the U.S. bases in Iraq and they couldn’t do a damned thing,” he was quoted as saying.
Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who leads the country’s aerospace program, said that while Iran only fired 13 missiles at the two bases, “we were prepared to launch hundreds.” He said Iran had simultaneously carried out a cyberattack against U.S. monitoring systems.

“We are hearing some intelligence to suggest that Iran is sending a message to the militias not to move forward.” — Vice President Mike Pence
He also repeated unsubstantiated claims that dozens of Americans were killed or wounded in the strikes. But he said the goal of the operation was not to kill anyone, but to “strike the enemy’s military machine.”
On Wednesday, Trump signalled that he would not retaliate militarily for the strike on the bases. That raised hopes that the current standoff, which brought the two countries to the brink of an all-out war, may be winding down.
The strike that killed Soleimani also killed a high-ranking commander of the Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, which had also vowed to take revenge. That fueled concerns that Iran’s regional proxies may carry out attacks.
But U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said the militias also appeared to be standing down.
“We are hearing some intelligence to suggest that Iran is sending a message to the militias not to move forward,” he told the Fox News Channel, without elaborating.

The UK Stands by the Nuclear Deal and Is Urging Iran to Return to Full Compliance

Rouhani meanwhile spoke by phone Thursday with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, urging Britain to denounce the killing of Soleimani.
As head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, Soleimani had mobilized powerful militias across the region and was blamed for deadly attacks against Americans going back to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. In Iran, he is seen by many as a national hero who played a key role in defeating the Islamic State group and resisting Western hegemony.
Without Soleimani’s efforts leading forces in Syria and Iraq against IS, “you would not have peace and security in London today,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by Vice President Alireza Moezi, who tweeted about the call with Johnson.
Downing Street confirmed the call, saying Johnson called for “an end to hostilities” in the Gulf. It said the U.K. stands by the nuclear deal and is urging Iran to return to full compliance.
Pence said the United States would call on its European allies to abandon the “disastrous” nuclear deal and demand greater concessions from Iran.
Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, the other signatories to the agreement, have continued to adhere to it, viewing it as the best hope of preventing Iran from developing the ability to quickly build a nuclear weapon.
The Europeans have sought ways to continue trading with Iran but have been largely unable to circumvent the crippling sanctions imposed by Trump. The sanctions have devastated Iran’s economy and have been a key factor in the monthslong escalation.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Israeli Official Accused of Nevada Sex Crime Ordered to Appear in Court via Zoom

DON'T MISS

Think You Can’t Afford College? Go Online and Get a CalKIDS Scholarship

DON'T MISS

US CDC Director Ousted Weeks Into Job

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Mario Garcia

DON'T MISS

Shooter Kills Two Minneapolis Schoolchildren in Church, Injures 17

DON'T MISS

Did Fresno Restaurateur Bobby Salazar Commit Arson? Feds Lay Out Their Case

DON'T MISS

Hanford Police Arrest Two Teens After Shootouts Leave 17-Year-Old Wounded

DON'T MISS

US CDC Director Being Ousted Weeks Into Job, Washington Post Reports

DON'T MISS

Israeli Foreign Minister Saar Says There Will Not Be a Palestinian State

DON'T MISS

All UN Security Council Members, Except US, Say Famine in Gaza Is ‘Man-Made Crisis’

UP NEXT

Israeli Foreign Minister Saar Says There Will Not Be a Palestinian State

UP NEXT

All UN Security Council Members, Except US, Say Famine in Gaza Is ‘Man-Made Crisis’

UP NEXT

Trump’s Tax Bill Expands 0% Capital Gains Eligibility in 2025

UP NEXT

Second-Highest Unemployment Rate Still In California

UP NEXT

Trump Holds Gaza Policy Meeting With Blair and Kushner, White House Official Says

UP NEXT

Grand Jury Declines to Indict Man Arrested for Throwing Sandwich at US Agent, Source Says

UP NEXT

Planned Visit by US Envoy Sparks Protests in Southern Lebanon

UP NEXT

California’s Environmental Agency Investigated by US Justice Department

UP NEXT

Three Dead in Minneapolis Shooting, Including Shooter, Justice Department Official Says

UP NEXT

TikTok Owner ByteDance Sets Valuation at Over $330 Billion as Revenue Grows, Sources Say

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Mario Garcia

12 hours ago

Shooter Kills Two Minneapolis Schoolchildren in Church, Injures 17

12 hours ago

Did Fresno Restaurateur Bobby Salazar Commit Arson? Feds Lay Out Their Case

12 hours ago

Hanford Police Arrest Two Teens After Shootouts Leave 17-Year-Old Wounded

12 hours ago

US CDC Director Being Ousted Weeks Into Job, Washington Post Reports

13 hours ago

Israeli Foreign Minister Saar Says There Will Not Be a Palestinian State

13 hours ago

All UN Security Council Members, Except US, Say Famine in Gaza Is ‘Man-Made Crisis’

13 hours ago

Trump’s Tax Bill Expands 0% Capital Gains Eligibility in 2025

14 hours ago

Second-Highest Unemployment Rate Still In California

14 hours ago

Trump Holds Gaza Policy Meeting With Blair and Kushner, White House Official Says

14 hours ago

Israeli Official Accused of Nevada Sex Crime Ordered to Appear in Court via Zoom

An Israeli official accused of trying to meet a 15-year-old girl for sex outside Las Vegas has been ordered to appear via videolink next wee...

11 hours ago

The flag of the U.S. state Nevada is seen in this illustration taken, August 21, 2024. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
11 hours ago

Israeli Official Accused of Nevada Sex Crime Ordered to Appear in Court via Zoom

11 hours ago

Think You Can’t Afford College? Go Online and Get a CalKIDS Scholarship

Susan Monarez, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 25, 2025. (Reuters File)
11 hours ago

US CDC Director Ousted Weeks Into Job

Mario Garcia is Valley Crime Stoppers' Most Wanted Person of the Day for August 27, 2025. (Valley Crimes Stoppers)
12 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Mario Garcia

Law enforcement use K-9 dogs to search a nearby neighborhood, after a shooting at Annunciation Church, which is also home to an elementary school, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. August 27, 2025. REUTERS/Tim Evans
12 hours ago

Shooter Kills Two Minneapolis Schoolchildren in Church, Injures 17

Bobby Salazar motorcycle gang fire restaurant Blackstone fresno insurance fraud
12 hours ago

Did Fresno Restaurateur Bobby Salazar Commit Arson? Feds Lay Out Their Case

A 17-year-old boy was shot and wounded in Hanford, and police arrested two juvenile suspects in connection with the shootings. (Hanford PD)
12 hours ago

Hanford Police Arrest Two Teens After Shootouts Leave 17-Year-Old Wounded

Susan Monarez, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 25, 2025. (Reuters File)
13 hours ago

US CDC Director Being Ousted Weeks Into Job, Washington Post Reports

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend