Trump, Republican senator in shouting match over unpopular Iran war

[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump faced pointed criticism over the Iran war on Wednesday (Jun 24) in a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans, shortly before his administration asked Congress for tens of billions of US dollars to pay for the conflict.

Several Republicans in the closed-door meeting said that Trump engaged in a shouting match with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who said the administration needs to explain a framework deal Trump signed last week that provides financial incentives for Iran but does not accomplish any of the goals he laid out at the war’s beginning.

“The American people need to know more than we are being told,” Cassidy told reporters. “It does not appear, although I do not know for sure, that the course of this is going the way that we were told.”

The high-volume exchange with a member of Trump’s own party was another example of how the war has weighed on Trump ahead of November elections that will determine control of Congress. Just one in four Americans believes the war was worth its costs, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found, and Trump’s approval rating is at its lowest level since he returned to office last year.

The exchange came one day after the Senate voted to direct Trump to end the war in a largely symbolic rebuke. Cassidy was one of four Republicans to back the resolution, along with opposition Democrats.

Trump did not mention the exchange with Cassidy, who was unseated by a Trump-backed challenger in a primary election earlier this year. Later, he criticised the Senate vote.

“Iran sees that, they go ‘what’s that all about’. Now you know, it’s meaningless, right?” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Several hours later, the administration asked Congress for US$70 billion to cover the cost of the war, adding to the US$867 billion US military budget.

Oil prices fall

The initial accord between the US and Iran has lifted Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, allowing traffic to flow again through a waterway that previously handled a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

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Benchmark oil prices fell on Wednesday to their lowest level since before the war started as supply concerns eased further. But conflicting accounts have emerged over elements of the deal, which has prompted criticism of Trump at home and in the Middle East.

Financial incentives for Iran, inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, control of the strait and Israel’s parallel war in Lebanon have all been disputed, highlighting the fragility of the accord.

The deal sets up 60 days of talks to tackle thornier details, including Iran’s nuclear programme.

Regional scepticism

The proposed peace deal has also been met with scepticism in the Middle East, where many states came under attack from Iran during the war and view the accord as too generous to Teheran, including a US$300 billion fund and the waiver of some sanctions.

Washington’s Gulf allies fear the reconstruction fund could help Iran to rebuild its military. The accord also does not address Teheran’s ballistic missile capacity.

The deal requires Iran to allow shipping to flow freely through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days, and Teheran has suggested it might impose tolls after that point. Iran could propose environmental, navigation and security fees in upcoming talks with Gulf states, according to a diplomat briefed on the talks. Washington and its Gulf allies oppose such fees.

“We are not going to do anything that undermines the security of our allies, our longstanding allies in the region,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Kuwait City, where the US embassy resumed operations after a months-long stoppage due to the war.

Israel, Lebanon meet in Washington

Elsewhere in Washington, Lebanon and Israel discussed a US-backed proposal for Israeli forces to pull out of some of the territory it invaded in the war and hand it to Lebanese army control.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would not pull troops out of the region.

Israel has been battling Hizbollah in Lebanon since the militant group attacked Israel on Mar 2 in support of Iran, and Teheran has made a cessation of hostilities there a central tenet of its demands in any peace deal with the US An Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed at least two people on Wednesday, Lebanese sources told Reuters, while Israel said that it struck two armed Hizbollah fighters. It was not immediately clear if the incidents were the same. REUTERS