CT Blue

I am not partial to theocracies, no matter the creed pushed by the state in question. So I have no use for Iran. But I’m a fair minded guy, and even I can see when the Iranians have right on their side. Consider this one of the Trump Administration’s most awesome feats. They have managed to make Iran look good, or at least in the right:

Amid the Trump administration’s almost weekly lash outs against Iran — mostly on its presence in its own region and on the nuclear agreement the United States is now violating — comes a particularly stunning demand: That Iran do more to protect U.S. interests in Iraq.

Here’s what’s going on:

On Friday, three mortar bombs landed inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, a fortified area where the U.S. embassy is located. There were no casualties.

That same day, Iran’s consulate in Basra (around 330 miles southeast of Baghdad), was attacked and torched by demonstrators, who have been protesting massive corruption and the cuts to their basic services there for weeks.

And on Saturday, the U.S. Consulate there was attacked by rockets. Again, no real damage, no casualties.

Totally ignoring the fact that Iran’s own consulate was destroyed — along with Iraqi government offices — the White House on Tuesday released a statement holding Iran accountable for an attack on the U.S. consulate office there:

Over the past few days, we have seen life-threatening attacks in Iraq, including on the United States consulate in Basra and against the American embassy compound in Baghdad. Iran did not act to stop these attacks by its proxies in Iraq, which it has supported with funding, training, and weapons.

Holding Tehran directly responsible for the attack, the statement promised retaliation. Iran, meanwhile, has resettled its consular staff at a new location in Basra, striking back at the White House by calling its statement, “shocking, provocative, and irresponsible.”

It somewhat strains belief that as part of some deep (Iranian) state conspiracy, the Iranians would have plotted to utterly destroy their own consulate as cover for a relatively harmless attack on an American consulate. Perhaps the Trumpers have been spoiled by Fox News. They seem to think that they can get away with any lie on the broader world stage because they can get away with any lie to the braid dead Americans who watch Fox.