נאך פונדערהיים האט געשריבן:דעפענס סעקרעטערי מארק עספער זאגט אז ער האט נישט געזען קיין ספעציפישע עווידענס אז איראן האט פלאנירט צו אטאקירן 4 אמעריקאנע אמבאסאדעס (וואס טראמפ האט אנגעגעבן אלס די אורזאך פארן אומברענגען סולימאני)
ער האט אויך געזאגט אז ער און אנדערע אפישלעס האבן געהאלטן ווי דער פרעזידענט אז די עמבעסיס קענען ווערן אטאקירט און דערפאר האט ער אריין געברענגט פארשטערקערטע כוחות.
Esper said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he "shared" the view that there was an existing threat against US embassies, as they represent "the most prominent display of American presence in a country."
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper doubled down on President Donald Trump's claim of an imminent threat on multiple embassies that reportedly informed his decision to order the killing of former Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Esper said ... but did believe there was a possibility for such attacks.
"What the president said was he believed that it probably and could've been attacks against additional embassies," Esper told host Margaret Brennan. "I shared that view. I know other members of the national security team shared that view. That's why I deployed thousands of American paratroopers to the Middle East to reinforce our embassy in Baghdad and other sites throughout the region."
Brennan pressed Esper, saying that it sounded more like "an assessment than a specific, tangible threat."
What I'm saying is that I shared the president's view that my expectation was they were going to go after our embassies."
The significance of a foreign attack on a US embassy is that "the embassy is the most prominent display of American presence in a country," Esper said.
Esper echoed that US intelligence had shown a threat to the embassies while speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," and in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," national security adviser Robert O'Brien lauded the US' "exquisite intelligence" that informed the mission.