US Defence Secretary Mark Esper
Days after the killing of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani in a US airstrike, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper has said that there was no concrete or specific evidence that Iran was planning to attack four US embassies.
Speaking on CBS' 'Face the Nation' show, Esper though mentioned that he shares President Donald Trump's views that additional attacks on US embassies was a likely situation but there was no specific evidence that Iran was plotting an attack on four US embassies.
"What the president said was that there probably could be additional attacks against embassies. I shared that view. The president didn't cite a specific piece of evidence," Esper said.
On being asked whether there were intelligence evidence suggesting of a possible attack on US embassies, Esper said he didn't see one with regards to four embassies.
The Trump administration justified the killing of Iranian leader claiming of an imminent attack on American diplomats and service members in Iraq.
Trump signed Soleimani's killing 7 months ago
Meanwhile, a media report said that US President Donald Trump had authorised the killing of Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani seven months ago could undermine his claims that the US action was precipitated by imminent threats to US embassies.
Trump's approval to kill him was given seven months ago, "if Iran's increased aggression resulted in the death of an American," NBC TV network reported on Monday quoting five anonymous sources.
But the network said that according to the unnamed current and former officials, "The presidential directive in June came with the condition that Trump would have final sign-off on any specific operation to kill Soleimani."
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