Trump Just Cleared the Beirut Embassy and Iran Has One Week to Figure Out Why
On October 23, 1983, Iran directed Hezbollah to detonate a truck packed with 12,000 pounds of explosives into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut – killing 241 Americans in the deadliest single day for Marines since Iwo Jima.The NSA had intercepted Tehran's order nearly a month earlier – the cable described as "24-karat proof" – and the warning got buried in bureaucracy until it was too late.
The Trump administration ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, and unlike 1983, nobody in Washington is sleeping at the wheel.
Trump's Iran Nuclear Deal Deadline Expires This Week. The State Department confirmed the evacuation Monday, citing "the security environment" without elaborating – but the backdrop is no mystery.
President Trump has assembled the largest American military force in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq: two aircraft carrier strike groups, more than a dozen warships, over 200 warplanes, submarines, and advanced missile defense systems all now positioned around Iran.
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