Washington DC - 21 May 2019
1. Cutaway of news conference
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State:
"First we, we shared with both the House and the Senate our strategic campaign the effort to push back against Iran's malign activity, 40 years of terrorist activity. And so we talked to them about that. We've tried to place that or place the recent intelligence in context of that 40 years of history and we walked through our efforts and our ultimate objective over the past days which has been to deter Iran."
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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Patrick Shanahan, Acting Secretary of Defense:
"We had a very good conversation with both the House and the Senate. We heard feedback that they'd like more conversation. They'd also like us to be more communicative with the American public. And we agreed to do more of that. Today, I walk them through what the Department of Defense has been doing since May 3rd when we received credible intelligence about threats to our interests in the Middle East and to American forces. And how we acted on that credible intelligence."
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4. SOUNDBITE (English) Patrick Shanahan, Acting Secretary of Defense:
"We have deterred attacks based on our reposturing of assets, deterred attacks against American forces. Our biggest focus at this point is to prevent Iranian miscalculation. We do not want the situation to escalate. This is about, deterrence not about war. We're not about going to war. This is about continuing to protect our interests in the Middle East and conducting the missions that there, we are there to perform."
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6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina:
"So here's what I told the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State. If there is an attack on American interests, personnel in Iraq or anywhere else directed by the Ayatollah and his henchmen and you don't respond, your ass will be up here explaining to us why he let them kill Americans and get away with it. Here's what I think. We're ready to respond if we have to. The best thing to happen is for everybody to calm down and Iran to back off. And I'm hoping that this show of force will result in de-escalating, not escalate."
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8. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Bernie Sanders, (I) Vermont:
"But let me just say I worry very much, that intentionally or unintentionally, we can create a situation in which a war will take place. And let me tell you, I think when you do that you're talking about a war that will go on and on and on. And I hope that the Congress does everything it can to remind this president about the Constitution of the United States. Sometimes we forget it. But some of us learned in school, that it is the Congress, that determines whether or not this country goes to war and not the President of the United States."
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10. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Mitt Romney, (R) Utah:
"The action taken by the administration is totally appropriate. It has been desired and designed to deter action on the part of Iran or their surrogates against Americans and against American interests. There was specific credible evidence of a malign interest on the part of Iran and and a result of that our intelligence community had a higher degree of confidence that something might occur that would be a detriment to our personnel and therefore stood up a very clear indication that America will respond to something of that nature occurs. And hopefully that would it will deter Iran from taking that kind of actions."
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12. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Chris Murphy, (D) Connecticut:
"This briefing was all about tactics not about strategy. And that's been our worry from the beginning that this is blind escalation with the hope that the Iranians will come to the table in the end or the hope that the Iranian people will rise up and topple the regime. There was no effort to lay out a thoughtful, interdepartmental strategy for how this is ultimately going to wind up in a better deal being signed by the Iranians than was signed by the Obama administration."
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