NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT THURSDAY 6/13-FRIDAY 6/14/2019

(CONTINUING TO UPDATE AND OR ADD PERIODICALLY, EDIT ETC. THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY)

US HOLDING IRAN RESPONSIBLE FOR TANKER ATTACKS-DETAILS BELOW

All 44 crew members from two oil tankers that came under attack in the Sea of Oman south of the Iranian coast have been rescued by Iranian ships and taken to the Iranian port of Jask, according to Iranian sources.

But the US Navy is saying that the "USS Bainbridge" rescued some crew members who were taken to Oman.

Iran's state broadcaster IRIB has a photo image said to show one of the damaged tankers.

LATER IRAN'S 'PRESS TV' POSTED VIDEO ON TWITTER AT LINK..... PRESS TV IRAN VIDEO OF DAMAGED TANKER....

The Associated Press reports that the two vessels were carrying Japan related cargo and the attacks come as Japan's Prime Minister was visiting Iran to discuss tensions between Iran, the United States and other nations.

Shinzo Abe, close to US President Donald Trump, met Thursday with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei.

Khamanei saying:

"President Trump is lying when he says he has no intention of changing the administration in Iran"

President Trump tweeted just before 230 pm Eastern Thursday his appreciation to Mr. Abe for talking to the Iranians but said that when it comes to making a deal:

"They are not ready, and neither are we!"

Meanwhile the Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif says this regarding the  tanker attacks:

"Suspicious doesn't begin to describe what likely transpired this morning"

Zarif later said the attacks were an attempt to:

"sabotage diplomacy"

There was Twitter silence for many hours from President Trump and other top officials like National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo regarding the matter.

But this from "Neconservative" US Senator Marco Rubio just after 1210 PM Eastern US time Thursday via Twitter pointing responsibility at the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps:

"The attacks in the gulf today by forces under the control of the Quds Force of the #IRGC have created a very dangerous situation in the region"-LINK

The IRGC was recently designated as a terrorist organization by the US allowing for military action to be taken against it under US law.

Just before 230 pm Eastern time Thursday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted in part that:

"It is the assessment of the US government that Iran is responsible for today's attacks in the Gulf of Oman...."

He added that:

"These attacks are a threat to international peace and security, a blatant assault on the freedom of navigation, and an unacceptable escalation of tension by Iran."

President Trump retweeted video of Pompeo's news conference Thursday afternoon blaming Iran for the attacks.

And from the Iranian Mission To The United Nations a statement that Iran "categorically rejects" any responsibility for the attacks.

The US is saying that video of an Iranian vessel removing a mine that did not explode from next to one of the tankers is proof of Iranian involvement in the attack.

One other note, Russia's embassy in Iran confirms that 11 crew members from the tankers were Russian nationals.

In New Zealand Friday not guilty pleas from Brenton Tarrant, the man accused of mass murder attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand March 15th

Tarrant accused of murdering 51 people plus 40 counts of attempted murder.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probing the US Marshal's Service fatal shooting of Brandon Webber, age 21, in Memphis Wednesday evening.

The Marshals were trying to arrest Webber when the killing occurred.   One relative told the media 20 shots were fired by the members of federal law enforcement.

Webber wanted by authorities in connection with a June 3rd shooting incident which injured a man in northern Mississippi.

A large crowd gathered afterwards throwing objects at Memphis Police officers and Shelby County Sheriff's deputies who were called in to deal with the crowd.

Tear gas used against the crowd of some 300 people in the end.

Law enforcement says 36 officers were injured.

Three arrests were made.

Groups like the NAACP and ACLU asking questions about the shooting but one thing has been made clear by the US Marshals Service:


FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT DOES NOT WEAR BODY CAMS PER US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT GUIDELINES.



Israeli warplanes struck targets in Gaza early Friday morning.

This after a rocket hit a religious school building (yeshiva) in the southern Israeli city of Sderot Thursday evening.   The latest rocket attack from Gaza arousing concern.

Some communities in southern Israel opened up bomb shelters as a precaution.

"Every litigant will be able, with the Justice Minister's blessing, to choose which judgement to uphold and which not.  I want to say one thing about this.  This worldview and the anarchy of  'every man, what is good in his eyes will do'-the road is short"

Israel's Chief Justice Esther Hayut responding Thursday to a media interview by Israel's new Justice Minister Amir Ohana in which Ohana said that court rulings in some cases must not be followed.

Liberal forces in Israel have been critical of Ohana's appointment saying that the parliament member from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party is in his post to provide cover for pending indictments in corruption cases against the Prime Minister.   

It has even been suggested that Ohana is laying the groundwork to defy a potential court ruling ordering Mr. Netanyahu to resign if he comes under indictment on corruption charges later this year.

The perspective of the conservative "Israel National News" on this story...LINK


From the war in Syria, Russian warplanes launching strikes to protect a Turkish military observation post in the northwestern province of Idlib.

The Russians say jihadists were attacking the Turks but the Turkish version is that the Syrian army attacked it.

Russia and Turkey are supposed to be joint guarantors of a cease-fire in northwestern Syria that has been anything but successful.

The Russian mission in Syria reports 13 shelling attacks on government held areas in northwestern Syria in a 24 hour period ending Thursday launched by jihadist and nationalist opposition forces.


British Home Secretary Sajid Javid said Thursday that he has approved the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to the United States.

Javid spoke during several media interviews on the day when Conservative Party MP's will hold a first round of voting for the next leader and Prime Minister with Javid being one of the ten candidates in the first round.

The results of the first round of voting put Boris Johnson in the lead with 114 votes,  Jeremy Hunt at 43 votes and Michael Gove at 37.

Three candidates, Mark Harper, Andrea Leadsom and Esther McVey,  were eliminated in the first round.

Three more rounds of voting among the Conservative parliament members next week  (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) with the top two finalists being submitted to Conservative Party members across the UK for a vote.

Here in the USA the Office of Special Counsel saying that White House aide Kellyanne Conway should be removed from her post because she advocated for and against candidates in the Alabama Special Election for US Senate in 2017.

The White House quick to defend Conway saying she is entitled to free speech and that the Office of Special Counsel's recommendations seem to be caused by:

"media pressure and liberal organizations"

And leaving after three and a half years as White House Press Secretary is Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

President Trump wishing Sanders well as she returns to Arkansas describing her as a:

" very special person with extraordinary talents"

and expressing the "hope" that she runs for Governor of Arkansas.


The Toronto Raptors are the NBA Champions defeating the Golden State Warriors in Oakland Thursday night 114-110 in the sixth game of the championship series.


And that's the way it really is as we come into Friday morning June 14th, 2019.