Pentagon admits to having no evidence that Soleimani would attack 4 embassies

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esperadmitted Sunday (12) that he had seen no concrete evidence that Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, who died this month in an American operation in Baghdad, planned to attack four embassies in the country, as President Donald Trumpsaid.

"The president did not cite specific evidence, and I didn't see him, with regard to the four embassies," Esper said in an interview with American broadcaster CBS News.

However, the Pentagon chief said he agreed with Trump that "it is likely that (the Iranians) will attack embassies because they are the highlight of the American presence in a country."

His statements add to Trump's narrative change to justify the mission against Soleimani. Initially, the U.S. president said the commander planned undefined attacks against U.S. targets, then said he wanted to "blow up" the embassy in Baghdad and then talked about plans against other missions.

"I can reveal that I think there would probably be four embassies," Trump said during an interview with Fox News last Friday (10). Esper argued that the president never spoke of evidence in the case of the four embassies, but said he "believed" that this was Soleimani's plan and said he shared that analysis.

The changes in Trump's justification for this mission generated discomfort among some members of Congress, who received no information about the alleged threat to four embassies during a meeting they held this week with Esper and other officials, according to various media outlets.

In addition, the hypothesis that the operation against Soleimani could be part of a broader plan aimed at weakening the Guardians of iran's Islamic Revolution (IRGC) gained traction after the Washington Post revealed on Friday (10) that the U.S. launched another airstrike in Yemen on the same day as the mission in Baghdad on The Last Day 2.

Meanwhile, Trump returned to Twitter on Sunday (12) to comment on yesterday's protests in Tehran, where hundreds of Iranians spoke out against the Islamic system and irgc.

"FOR Iran's leaders: DON'T KILL YOUR PROTESTERS. Thousands have died or been arrested by you, and the world is watching. And most importantly, the United States is watching you," Trump wrote.

The U.S. president called on the Iranian government to "reactivate the internet," although there were no cuts in access to iran - as occurred during the November 2019 demonstrations - and the protests seemed to calm down.