US Congress receives classified briefing on war with Iran
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janak Jalil and in the early hours of Wednesday the 4th of March, these are our main stories. The Trump administration tries to justify the war in Iran to Congress after days of conflicting explanations. It comes as the US military says it struck nearly 2,000 targets in Iran. Stock markets plunge, with trading in South Korea briefly suspended over concerns about the conflict. President Trump attempts to curb surging oil and gas prices by saying the US Navy will escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz if necessary, which Iran has blocked. Also in this podcast... Women's brains change profoundly during pregnancy. Those changes are dynamic.
What we have done is to have a lot of subjects so we can compute and have statistics and numbers about this change. A study in Spain finds that women's brains go through profound structural changes during pregnancy. As the Israeli and US bombardment of Iran continues and Iranian retaliatory missile and drone barrages across the Gulf intensify, the Trump administration is facing mounting calls to explain why it started this war now, what its goal is and how long this conflict could last. Ahead of a vote this week in Congress on a war powers resolution aimed at limiting the president's actions, lawmakers received a classified briefing from the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, said he was deeply concerned by the conflicting explanations for the war being put forward by Mr Trump and his officials.
His administration can't explain the reasons we did it. I left the intelligence briefing more concerned than reassured. If the case for war were strong, it would be consistent. Instead, the rationales change by the hour. regime change, nuclear weapons, missiles, defence, pre-emptive. Which is it? When the justification keeps shifting, a strategy is missing. There is no strategy.
But the Senate's top Republican, John Thune, said Mr Trump had the right to take military action against Iran.
I think the President has the authority that he needs to conduct the activities, the operations that are currently underway there. And as you know, there's a lot of controversy around, questions around the War Powers Act, but I think the President is acting in the best interest of the nation and our national security interests by ensuring that he's protecting Americans and American bases and installations in that region, as well as those of our allies.
A day after Mr Rubio said the US attacked Iran because it knew that Israel was about to, claims he's now rode back on, Donald Trump denied that Israel had forced his hand. The president admitted that he had been surprised by the strength of the Iranian response, prompting more criticism that the Trump administration failed to plan properly so it could warn or evacuate citizens in the region in time. Hundreds of people have been killed, including six American service personnel. I got more details about Mr Rubio's briefing of Congress from our North America correspondent, David Willis. It's a closed-door briefing, but we know that Marco Rubio is likely to have faced a number of questions from lawmakers, a chief among them, why now?
Initially, of course, it was said that the United States attacked Iran when it did after learning that Israel was about to mount a strike of its own, in other words, to pre-empt Iran's anticipated retaliation. Well, those remarks are led to suggestions that the United States had effectively been pulled into a conflict by one of its allies. And that prompted questions to President Trump, who asserted otherwise, saying that it was his opinion, as he put it, that Iran was about to stage a strike on the U.S.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–5:32
2
What are the recent developments in the US-Israel war with Iran?
5:32–6:42
3
How is the Trump administration justifying military actions against Iran?
6:42–7:57
4
What impact is the conflict having on global stock markets?
7:57–8:51
5
How is President Trump addressing rising oil and gas prices?
8:51–14:59
6
What are Congress's concerns regarding the war powers resolution?
14:59–21:29
7
What are the implications of the US military's actions in the region?
21:29–30:06