TILLERSON’S STRATEGIC IMPATIENCE: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared America’s “strategic patience” is exhausted with Iran as well as North Korea, while criticizing the Iran nuclear deal reached under President Obama as one that simply tries to buy off Iran and leave the consequences for later generations.
“Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, and is responsible for intensifying multiple conflicts and undermining U.S. interests in countries such as Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon, and continuing to support attacks against Israel,” Tillerson said during an address from the State Department. “An unchecked Iran has the potential to travel the same path as North Korea and take the world along with it. The United States is keen to avoid a second piece of evidence that strategic patience is a failed approach,” Tillerson said.
While the State Department has certified to Congress that Iran is in compliance with the nuclear deal worked out by Obama and five world powers, Tillerson made clear the Trump administration is reviewing the agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “The JCPOA fails to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran. It only delays their goal of becoming a nuclear state,” Tillerson said. “This deal represents the same failed approach of the past that brought us to the current imminent threat we face from North Korea. The Trump administration has no intention of passing the buck to a future administration on Iran.”
Tillerson stopped short of saying the U.S. is considering withdrawing from the agreement, but hinted at new sanctions aimed at punishing Tehran for its other malign activities. “I think this was one of the mistakes in how that agreement was put together, that it completely ignored all of the other serious threats that Iran poses,” Tillerson said. “That’s why our view is that we have to look at Iran in a very comprehensive way, in terms of the threat it poses in all areas of the region and the world.”
IT’S A CHESS MATCH: President Trump’s team is working to “checkmate Iran” through enhanced coordination with Saudi Arabia and other U.S. allies, according to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. “Everywhere you look, if there is trouble in the region, you find Iran,” Mattis told reporters in Riyadh following a meeting with the Saudi defense minister. “What we’re seeing is the nations in the region and others elsewhere trying to checkmate Iran and the amount of disruption, the amount of instability they can cause,” Mattis said. “It’s got to be ended.”
Mattis said his meetings with Saudi leaders “could not have gone better. … They were frank. They were candid. They were honest. They were highly productive,” Mattis said. Mattis is now in Egypt, the second stop on his five-nation trip, which will also take him to Israel, Qatar and Djibouti, before returning the Washington.
‘ARE THEY CRAZY?’ That was Sen. John McCain’s tweeted response to a Wall Street Journal report that Exxon Mobil has asked the Trump administration to let it proceed with an energy project with a Russian state-run company that was put on hold when the Obama administration sanctioned Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Tillerson negotiated the contract with Russia when he was CEO of Exxon Mobil. Russian President Vladimir Putin predicted at the time that the deal would be worth $500 billion, meaning that the waiver would be a substantial blow to the effectiveness of the energy sanctions imposed in 2014.
“Exxon has been seeking U.S. permission to drill with Rosneft in several areas banned by sanctions and applied in recent months for a waiver to proceed in the Black Sea,” explained the Wall Street Journal, which reported on the waiver application. “The Black Sea request is likely to be closely scrutinized by members of Congress who are seeking to intensify sanctions on Russia in response to what the U.S. said was its use of cyberattacks to interfere with elections last year.”
Good Thursday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre), National Security Writer Travis J. Tritten (@travis_tritten) and Senior Editor David Brown (@dave_brown24). Email us here for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter @dailyondefense.
HAPPENING TODAY, IRAN’S AIRCRAFT DEALS EXAMINED: The Heritage Foundation is hosting a panel of experts discussing their research into Iran’s aviation sector and its malign activities. Among the experts: Mark Dubowitz and Emanuele Ottolenghi from Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who have both testified before Congress on how Iran has devoted its commercial aviation sector to keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power and Hezbollah armed. “The Iran Deal … has made it legal to sell new aircraft to carriers that are complicit in malign activity, including ferrying fighters and weapons to support Assad’s slaughter of women and children,” Heritage said in an announcement for the event, which will be live streamed from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Last year, Boeing announced a deal for the sale of $17.6 billion worth of aircraft to the state-owned Iran Air, and Europe’s Airbus sold 100 aircraft to Iran that were worth more than $18 billion. Two weeks ago, Iran’s Aseman Airlines signed a deal to buy 30 Boeing aircraft for approximately $3 billion, Heritage reports.
CARRIER KERFUFFLE: The White House had some advice Wednesday for reporters questioning whether the public was misled about a carrier strike group being sent toward North Korea — go ask the Pentagon. Press secretary Sean Spicer referred questions four separate times to the Defense Department and U.S. Pacific Command while denying the White House contributed to the confusion last week surrounding the USS Carl Vinson. “The president said that we have an armada going towards the peninsula. That’s a fact, it happened — it is happening, rather,” Spicer said. The strike group was actually thousands of miles away and heading in the opposite direction when the president made those comments. The Vinson strike group of ships started toward North Korea this week, after first conducting a truncated version of a long-planned exercise with the Australian navy.
For his part, Mattis did not correct the the misimpression last week that the Vinson was already steaming toward North Korea, which was defiantly testing missiles. During a stop in Saudi Arabia Wednesday, Mattis defended his comments: “The Vinson, as I said on the record, was operating up and down the western Pacific, and we were doing exactly what we said and that is we were shifting her.”
STRONG WORDS: One of Trump’s most unrelenting critics, California Democrat Rep. Ted Lieu, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accused the administration of deliberately lying to the American people and the world. “The military knows full well where the aircraft carrier task force is going every single minute of the day. There’s no way that they would have miscommunicated that,” Lieu said on CNN yesterday. “They knew this aircraft carrier task force was not going to North Korea. It was sailing the other direction at the time they made the statement.”
Retired Rear Adm. John Kirby, a former Navy PAO and State Department spokesman, attributed the messaging mixup to last-minute adjustments that were designed to accommodate the Aussies, while carrying out U.S. Pacific Command’s order to proceed to waters off the Korean peninsula. “Well, look, if I had a nickel, as a press secretary, for every time I didn’t do something completely thorough, in terms of a press release or a statement from the podium, I could buy all of us a couple cases of Cokes,” Kirby said on CNN, where he is now a paid contributor.
Also on CNN, House Foreign Relations Chairman Rep. Ed Royce said the confusion may have been helpful. “What I remember from history is Franklin Delano Roosevelt responding to a question about an aircraft carrier group. And they asked him, where did this come from? And his response was Shangri-La. And the reason he said that obvious was because he did not want those in Tokyo to know where that particular aircraft group was at that moment deployed.” Royce suggested the announcement that the aircraft carrier and its escorts were on the way may have prompted North Korea not to carry out an expected sixth nuclear test. “Perhaps we will never know, worked into the calculus,” Royce said.
UNDER PUTIN’S WING: Syria has reportedly moved most of its operable combat aircraft to a air base in Latakia province on its west coast, where they will be collocated with Russian planes, complicating any possible U.S. follow-up strike against Assad’s remaining air force. CNN reported the cruise missile attack two weeks ago destroyed or disabled 23 warplanes, including Su-22s and older MiG-23s. Previously, the Pentagon said more than 20 planes were hit in the attack, roughly 20 percent of Syria’s operational fleet. The Latakia base is heavily defended with Russia’s top-of-the-line anti-aircraft missile systems.
BEAR BOMBERS BACK: Those Cold War-era Russian Tu-95 “Bear” bombers were back Tuesday flying closer to the U.S. than they did on Monday, (36 miles vs. 100 miles) but still not entering U.S. airspace. This time the U.S. didn’t bother to send up F-22s to check them out. A spokesperson for NORAD tells us that the Russian bombers entered the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) Tuesday night. “The flight was in international airspace and not dissimilar from out-of-area flights we’ve seen previously,” the spokesperson said. “As part of its mission, NORAD tracks and identifies all aircraft flying in the ADIZ in advance of any aircraft entering sovereign airspace.” Pentagon officials note it’s been awhile since they’ve seen these kind of flights, and aren’t sure what signal Moscow is trying to send, if any.
SUSPECTED CHEMICAL ATTACK: The military was not ready Wednesday to confirm that ISIS used mustard agent in what appeared to be another chemical attack over the weekend on coalition forces fighting for western Mosul. But a top U.S. general in Iraq was clear that the attack was not effective. “The chemicals have had no impact on the Iraqi security forces. It had no impact on our forces,” said Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, commander of the Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command for the Operation Inherent Resolve campaign. ISIS had reportedly conducted a gas attack a day earlier in a Mosul neighborhood and has used chlorine and mustard agent in the past. The substance is being tested, Martin said.
Meanwhile, the battle is also taking a grim toll on residents. “The number of civilians murdered by ISIS on a weekly basis is in the hundreds with evidence showing that is increasing,” Martin said. The group has unleashed vehicle bombs and other improvised explosive devices, and has lobbed 7,000 mortars and rockets indiscriminately into the liberated eastern section of the city, he said. Fighting is intensifying as U.S. forces, Iraqi security forces, Kurdish groups and militias may be nearing the end of a six-month effort to liberate the city.
VET’S CHOICE: Trump has signed into law an extension of the “Veterans Choice” program. “This bill will extend and improve [the program] so that more veterans can see the doctor of their choice,” Trump said at yesterday’s White House signing ceremony “You got it? The doctor of their choice, and don’t have to wait and travel long distances for VA care,” he added for emphasis.
McCain, one of the bill’s most ardent backers, said the Veterans Choice Program Improvement Act sends an important message. “We will not send our veterans back to the status quo of unending wait-times for appointments and substandard care,” McCain said in a statement. “We have a long way to go to fully reform veterans’ health care, but today’s legislation is an important first step in that effort.”
MEMORIALIZED: Mourners will gather Friday at Fort Belvoir to remember Spc. Jeremy Darrell Tomlin. The 22-year-old crew chief was killed Monday when his Black Hawk crashed on a golf course in Leonardtown, Md., during a training flight. The pilot of the UH-60 helicopter and a battalion commander on board were severely injured and in critical condition at a Baltimore trauma center, though the Army provided no update on their health Wednesday.
THE RUNDOWN
Bloomberg: Trillion-Dollar Tab to Renew U.S. Nuclear Triad to Be Reviewed
Reuters: North Korea warns of ‘super-mighty preemptive strike’ as U.S. plans next move
Washington Post: Trump and his aides sow confusion by sending mixed signals on foreign affairs
Reuters: Defense, finance, telecoms donated heavily to Trump inauguration: U.S. filing
New York Times: Activity spotted at North Korea nuclear test site: Volleyball
Defense News: The F-35A is in England. What’s next?
Reuters: U.S. approves $295.6 million military equipment sale to Iraq: Pentagon
USA Today: France says it will prove Syria’s Assad used chemical weapons
Associated Press: Navy redesigning its submarines to accommodate women
CNN: Navy, Marines prohibit sharing nude photos without consent
New York Times: South Koreans feeling cheated after U.S. carrier miscue
DoD Buzz: Two more F-35s to join fleet in Europe after fuel valve glitch
Reuters: Marines’ commander in Australia says U.S. remains committed to Asia pivot
Fox News: How North Korea gets its money
War on the Rocks: Keeping up civ-mil relations
Foreign Policy: Student shot and killed at ‘mother of all protests’ in Venezuela
Calendar
THURSDAY | APRIL 20
9:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Italian Prime Minister H.E. Paolo Gentiloni discusses security in the Mediterranean as a cornerstone of global stability and the common engagement of Italy and the United States. csis.org
10 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Are we heading for a blow-up on the Korean peninsula? wilsoncenter.org
10 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Experts discuss next steps in dealing with the South China Sea, a regional flashpoint. heritage.org
1 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. The implications of Iran aircraft sales and how they could complicate U.S. efforts to contain its expanding influence in the Middle East. heritage.org
3 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. The provincialism and internationalism of an America First policy in U.S. foreign relations. Wilsoncenter.org
6 p.m. 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller speaks at the Marine Corps Assoc. & Foundation C4 awards dinner, Crystal Gateway Marriott. mca-marines.org
FRIDAY | APRIL 21
2 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. The French and German elections and post-election America. brookings.edu
MONDAY | APRIL 24
9 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Reflecting on President Trump’s first 100 days. brookings.edu
10:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. China’s growing interests in the Middle East, and the United States’ enduring interests in the Middle East. csis.org
12:30 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. The long war in Afghanistan and the Trump administration. brookings.edu
1 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Ending the war on civilians: A discussion with Syria’s White Helmets. atlanticcouncil.org
4 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Gen. George C. Marshall and the atomic bomb. wilsoncenter.org
TUESDAY | APRIL 25
9:30 a.m. Dirksen G50. Policy and strategy in the Asia-Pacific. armed-services.senate.gov
9:45 a.m. Dirksen 419. The next steps for the crisis in Libya and U.S. Policy options. foreign.senate.gov
12 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. South Caucasus: The threats and challenges for the Trump administration. heritage.org
5 p.m. 12900 Federal Systems Park Dr. Evening reception to open the following two-day meeting of the Integrated Program Management Division. ndia.org
WEDNESDAY | APRIL 26
10 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. 100 down, 265 days to go on President Trump’s first year. heritage.org
1:30 p.m. House 140. Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, testifies in a closed session. appropriations.house.gov
2:30 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Ready or not: A strategy for an effective U.S. military with Sen. John Cornyn. wilsoncenter.org
3 p.m. 1800 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Rebalance, reassurance, and resolve in the U.S.-China strategic relationship. brookings.edu
THURSDAY | APRIL 27
8 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. A discussion with Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, discusses how to maintain a ready fleet. brookings.edu
9:30 a.m. Dirksen G50. Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, testifies on the Pacific region and U.S. Forces Korea. armed-services.senate.gov
