US President Donald Trump approved military operation against Iran after the downing of a US Global Hawk spy drone, but pulled back from launching it on Thursday night, The New York Times reported.

According to the report, military and diplomatic officials were expecting a strike order as late as 7 p.m. (23:00 GMT) Thursday. Prior to that there were heated debates at the White House involving Trump’s top national security officials and leaders from Congress.

The outlet added, citing a senior Trump administration official, that aircraft and ships had been on position to fire missiles when the order came to cancel the operation.

Donald Trump initially approved attacks against a series of Iranian targets, including radar and missile batteries, The New York Times reported citing multiple senior administration officials.

The operation, although underway, was abandoned in its early stages.

According to the report, it is not clear whether the attacks might still go forward.

The military operation was slated to take place before dawn Friday in Iran in order to “minimize risk to the Iranian military or to civilians,” The New York Times reported.

CENTCOM described the downing of an American RQ-4 surveillance drone as an Iranian attempt to disrupt the ability of the US to monitor the area following recent threats to international shipping and the free flow of commerce, adding that the incident occurred in international waters.

US President Donald Trump initially said Iran made “a very big mistake”, later walking back his comments by suggesting to reporters that he doubted the drone downing was intentional.

The US President also noted that the incident would have been far more serious in case the aircraft had been a manned vehicle, saying that it would have made “a big, big difference.”

The incident followed recent attacks on at least six oil tankers in the Persian Gulf region that the United States blamed on Iran. Tehran in its turn has denied all the allegations.

Major General Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, stated on Thursday that the country had downed a US drone to send a “clear message” to Washington.

“Iran is not seeking war with any country, but we are fully prepared to defend Iran,” he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has expressed Tehran’s intentions to prove that the United States is lying in its claim that its drone was downed by the Iranian army in international airspace. To that end he tweeted a map showing the location of the downing of a US Global Hawk spy drone, noting Iran had retrieved “sections” of the military drone – which originated in the UAE – in Iranian territorial waters.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have escalated since May 2018, when the US President scrapped the 2015 nuclear deal, which curbed Iran’s nuclear programme, claiming that it failed to stop Iran’s ballistic missile programme. The US administration has since adopted a “maximum pressure” policy aimed at pressuring the Islamic republic into negotiating a ‘better’ deal, but appears to have achieved quite the opposite so far.

Egypt’s ousted president Mohamed Morsi has collapsed during a court session and died, according to state television.

The state broadcaster said on Monday that Morsi, 67, was attending a session in his trial on espionage charges when he blacked out and then died. His body was taken to a hospital, it said.

Morsi, a senior figure in the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, was elected president in 2012 in the country’s first free elections after longtime leader Hosni Mubarak was forced from power.

Following a wave of mass protests in 2013, the military ousted Morsi and crushed the Brotherhood in a major crackdown, arresting many of the group’s leaders.

In 2018, a panel of three British parliamentarians reported that Morsi was being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, with just one hour allowed for exercise.

The politicians – who formed an independent detention review panel – said that the conditions of Morsi’s confinement could be classified as torture and could also lead to his premature death.

Morsi, who had a history of ill health including diabetes, liver and kidney disease, was not receiving the medical care required, the MPs found.

More details soon…

TURKEY TURNS TO RUSSIA AND NOT U.S. OR NATO FOR HELP IN SYRIA

By KUMAIL JAFFER
Fri, Jun 14, 2019

TURKEY issued a stern warning to the US over Washington’s decision to impose sanctions for purchasing Russian missile systems.

Washington claimed it would trigger economic warfare on Ankara if Turkey went ahead with its deal to buy S-400 missiles from Moscow. The US, who recently sold 100 F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, see the S-400 missile systems as a threat and said Turkey could not have both at the same time. However, President Erdogan’s administration pledged to respond to any aggression with action of their own.

Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: “If the United States takes any negative actions towards us, we will also take reciprocal steps.

“We are determined on the S-400 issue. No matter what the results will be, we will not take a step back.”

The minister added that it is impossible to cancel the order from Russia.

As well as threatening sanctions, Washington sent a letter yesterday saying it would pull Ankara out of the F-35 jet programme – despite being a fellow NATO member.

The minister continued: “We reject the wording [of] the letter [by acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan] to our defence minister.

“Nobody can give an ultimatum to Turkey.”

His words were echoed by Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, who said: “There is no change and there will be no change.”

The US Defence Secretary threatened earlier this month to remove all Turkish pilots currently training in the US if the deal went ahead – but it failed to deter President Erdogan.

The US is concerned that any F-35s they sell could be exposed to subterfuge by the Russians.

In addition, the Russian system is allegedly incompatible with NATO systems.

Mr Cavusoglu’s aggressive speech ensured the Turkish lira weakened 1.5 percent in a single day.

They are reportedly discounting their own missiles and have offered to protect the Turkish economy should Russia respond to their severing of ties.

Assistant Defence Secretary Kathryn Wheelbarger said: “We would be seeking ways to protect the Turkish economy from any potential blowback – Turkey is learning perhaps the hard way that Russia cannot be relied upon.”

It also ties into the overall power struggle in the region as both Russia and the US scramble to get nations on side.

Turkey decided to buy the missiles in 2017 amid Washington urging them to purchase the US Patriot system instead.

The US has had other issues with nations wishing to buy the Russian missiles systems, too.

Washington is struggling to convince other powerful nations not to engage in the Moscow transaction.

Despite being warned by the EU and US, President Erdogan has remained firm in his aspirations as he claimed he was protecting the interests of Turks in North Cyprus.

• JAYSHREE SENGUPTA

Withdrawal of the GSP will hamper India’s export growth to the US.

The US has finally withdrawn its preferential treatment to Indian exports under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) that covered around 2,000 items valued at $6.3 billion. Granted to India and some other developing countries in 1976, GSP allowed some of their exports to have duty-free access into the US, thus allowing them to export more and develop faster.

President Trump had notified the US Congress on 4 March about his intention to withdraw GSP benefits for India. The 60-day notice ended on 3 Mayand was to be effective from 5 June. The NDA government has tried to play down the whole episode as something not very worrisome, because, according to the Ministry of Commerce, only $190 million worth of exports will be affected. Even then, it is going to cause a serious setback to our exports which have been stagnant for sometime.

With higher duties, Indian exports will become more expensive and will lose their competitiveness vis-à-vis other developing countries’ exports to the US. In many of its exports, India is facing severe competition from countries in Southeast Asia and Africa. It will hamper India’s export growth to the US.

India is not in a position to retaliate immediately and is probably tinkering with the idea of what strategy to take. It could have imposed the proposed tariff hike on 29 items of US imports after it had imposed higher duties on steel and aluminum in 2018. But India is still dithering to do so and the last date for the imposition of duties has been postponed to 16 June. The 29 items of American imports include diverse products including finished metal items, nuts and fruits. Alongside withdrawing the GSP treatment on Indian products, the US has slapped a number of allegations on India of not offering an ‘equitable and reasonable access to American products.

With higher duties, Indian exports will become more expensive and will lose their competitiveness vis-à-vis other developing countries’ exports to the US.

President Donald Trump has been peeved by a number of moves by the Modi government in recent times and he never tires of repeating the case of the US-made Harley Davidson motorcycles on which India hiked duties in the recent past. He asked the Indian government: “Why is it that Indian motorcycles are entering free in the US, when American motorcycles are forced to pay high duties in India?” US medical device industry too has been unhappy about the rise in duties on coronary stents and knee implant components. India imposed price caps on US made medical devices in 2017. This was done by the Modi government to make healthcare more affordable for the people.

The US has been unhappy about the lax protection of intellectual property and patent rights in India and wants stricter enforcement of the IPR. It seeks for an improvement in data localisation norms and better e-commerce rules that do not discriminate in favour of local Indian e-commerce giants. It wants access to Indian markets for US dairy products and a tariff reduction on information and communications technology products. In general, the US has been unhappy about the lack of freer access for American imports to Indian markets and offers it as a justification for withdrawing the 43 years old GSP which has helped India’s exports to the US specially in items like artificial jewellery, engineering goods, building materials, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, leather, etc.

In not taking a belligerent stand, the NDA government and Prime Minister Modi are hoping to improve the economic relations with the US in the future. US is India’s second most important export destination and its total goods exports amount to $58.9 billion. India’s trade surplus of $22.9 billion with the US is something Trump wants to see reduced. It is the same reason why he targeted China and is still not accepting a compromise solution which is going to be disastrous for world trade in the future.

India is hoping that through negotiations, the GSP withdrawal can be reversed like in the case of Chile, but it is unlikely that the US will relent easily. Also, India may be interested in protecting its people from high prices of imported medical devices that make coronary stents unaffordable.

The US has been unhappy about the lack of freer access for American imports to Indian markets and offers it as a justification for withdrawing the 43 years old GSP which has helped India’s exports to the US.

The US has also tweaked the H1B visa rules which are a set back for Indians applying for jobs in the IT industry in America. The rules have become stricter thereby limiting the number of people who may qualify in getting the visa. The US has also become more vigilant about H1B visa holders getting Green Cards.

The US sanctions on Iran has made it difficult for India to import oil from Iran which has been one of India’s main and cheapest sources of oil imports. It has also imposed a ban on the Chinese technology giant Huawei from doing business with its allies. This would make it difficult for India to overcome the ban and to go ahead in inviting Huawei to help in upgrading our technology to 5G, important for the next generation reforms.

The US has not abided by WTO rules by withdrawing the GSP privileges of access to Indian exports because it continues to give such an access to other developing countries and India can take this matter to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body on grounds of discriminatory treatment. But in all likelihood, India is trying and will succeed in reaching a compromise because Mr. Modi is not interested in entering into a situation of conflict with the most powerful country in the world on matters of trade when more important strategic matters are at stake. India needs close cooperation with the US in many areas especially in fighting terror in the South Asian region in which Modi is currently championing.

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This commentary originally appeared in The Tribune.The views expressed above belong to the author(s).

“After a short time for prayers, family and friends will carry the body to the grave site where it will be laid to rest”

Hundreds of mourners gathered in a Christchurch cemetery on Wednesday for the first funerals of those killed in the twin mosque massacre as New Zealanders braced for days of emotional farewells following the mass slayings.

An Australian white supremacist terrorist shot down 50 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in the southern city of Christchurch last Friday in a killing spree he broadcast live.
On Wednesday morning, hundreds of mostly Muslim mourners gathered at a cemetery not far from Linwood Mosque, the second of the two places of worship targeted.
They hugged and embraced each other, milling under a large marquee next to rows of freshly dug graves.
Among those in attendance was Abdul Aziz, an Afghan refugee who bravely confronted the gunman at Linwood Mosque. He was hugged by many mourners.
Council officials did not release the names of who was being buried but some of those attending told AFP they had been informed two people were being laid to rest.
“After a short time for prayers, family and friends will carry the body to the grave site where it will be laid to rest,” council official Jocelyn Ritchie told reporters.
Muslims whose loved ones were gunned down have had their grief compounded by the failure of authorities to return bodies to families in time for a speedy burial, as required under Islamic custom.
Only six of the 50 victims have been returned to their families so far.
Authorities say they are doing all they can to speed up autopsies and the formal identification of those killed.
Police commissioner Mike Bush said that the process had been slow because of the need to identify victims conclusively and to avoid hindering the prosecution.
In a briefing on Wednesday, he said he hoped a further six bodies would be returned to families by midday.
So far 21 victims have been formally identified by the coroners, he added.
“We are doing all we can to undertake this work as quickly as possible and return the victims to their loved ones,” police said in a statement.
“While identification may seem straightforward the reality is much more complex, particularly in a situation like this.”
The killings have sparked outrage and revulsion in New Zealand as well as a debate about the country’s comparatively permissive gun laws and whether authorities have done enough to track far-right extremists.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Wednesday visited Cashmere High School, which lost two students in the shootings: Sayyad Milne, 14 and Hamza Mustafa, a 16-year-old refugee from Syria who died alongside his father at Al Noor mosque.
Asked by a student how she felt, Ardern replied simply: “I am sad”.
A day earlier Ardern vowed gunman Brenton Tarrant would face the “full force of the law” as she opened a sombre session of parliament with an evocative “as-salaam alaikum” message of peace to Muslims.
But she pledged that she, and much of New Zealand, would deprive the 28-year-old gunman of the publicity he craved by never uttering his name.
“He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless,” she told assembled lawmakers.
“I implore you: Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them.”
Dozens of relatives of the deceased have begun arriving from around the world, some hoping to take bodies back with them.
Of the six bodies released so far, four are expected to be repatriated overseas, council officials said.
Javed Dadabhai, who travelled from Auckland to help bury his cousin, said families and volunteers had been warned of a slow process.
“The majority of people still have not had the opportunity to see their family members,” he told AFP.

In a rambling “manifesto,” the terrorist had said he was motivated partly by a desire to stoke a violent response from Muslims and a religious war between Islam and the West.
The Islamic State group, in a message on social media, appeared to encourage retaliatory attacks.
“The scenes of killing in the two mosques… Incite members of the caliphate living there to avenge their religion and the children of the umma (Muslims) who are being slaughtered in all corners of the earth with the sponsorship and blessing of the Crusader countries,” it said.
Following the mass shooting, Ardern has promised to reform New Zealand laws that allowed the gunman to legally purchase weapons used in the attack.
New Zealanders have already begun answering government appeals to hand in their weapons, including John Hart, a farmer in the North Island district of Masterton.
Hart said it was an easy decision for him to hand in his semi-automatic and tweeted: “on the farm they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesn’t outweigh the risk of misuse. We don’t need these in our country.” The tweet drew a barrage of derogatory messages to his Facebook account — most apparently from the US, where the pro-gun lobby is powerful.
Ardern has said details of the proposed reform will be announced by next week, but she indicated they could include gun buybacks and a ban on some semi-automatic rifles