• Answer: Donald Trump, after Iran's attack on US bases in Iraq: "We will impose economic sanctions on Tehran immediately"
  • Iraq: At least three missiles hit the Green Zone of Baghdad, a few meters from the US embassy
  • Opinion: US shoots itself in the foot

"If the United States had a high level person, for example, the second most important office in the country, murdered, wherever it was, we would consider it an assault against our country." This is how the president of the House of Representatives of the United States, the Democrat Nancy Pelosi, has defended today the decision of her party to promote a bill that limits the powers of Donald Trump to carry out more military actions against Iran as the one that caused the death of the General of the Guardians of the Revolution, Qasem Soleimani.

The initiative has very little chance of getting ahead, since Republicans control the Senate. And even if the Senate approved the measure, there is no doubt that the president would veto it, as there was with another law that prohibited the US Armed Forces from supporting those in Saudi Arabia, which has intervened in the Yemen civil war. In any case, Trump has reacted by accusing the opposition of "defending Soleimani," and referring on Twitter to the president of the House of Representatives as "the madwoman of Nancy Pelosi."

The argument is constitutional. In its first article, section eight, the US Constitution states that among the powers of Congress is "declare war, give Corsican patents and establish the rules regarding the occupation of land and water." The Democrats have not said it explicitly, but, from Pelosi's words, it seems to be deduced that they consider Soleimani's death in Baghdad an act of war and, furthermore, that it can trigger an open conflict with Iran for which Trump does not have legal authorization The president, meanwhile, has announced on Twitter that only through that social network will he inform of his decisions.

In other words: it is a legal and political debate to which Pelosi has wanted to give an ethical touch by stating that "we have no illusions about Iran or about a frightening person like Soleimani", and has criticized what he has described as "carefree" the White House approach both in the relationship with Iran and in the American institutional system.

Paradoxically, the international community is tiptoeing through the crisis, at least in regard to public statements. The best example is the meeting of the UN Security Council that is being held in New York at the request of the country that serves as the presidency of the agency, Vietnam, to assess the importance of the Charter of the United Nations, which in this 2020 turns 75 At the opening of the session, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, has simply expressed his concern about "the dangerous levels of geopolitical tension" in the Persian Gulf. The United States has denied entry to the country to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who on December 20 requested a visa to participate in the debate.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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