Fox News Segment Hammers Trump For ‘Downplaying’ China’s Role In Helping Iran Kill US Troops

Fox News anchor John Roberts spoke to retired Navy Commander Kirk Lippold on Monday about the bombshell reporting from The Wall Street Journal that China had helped Iran launch a strike on a U.S. military base, killing three troops. Roberts and Lippold both characterized President Donald Trump’s reaction to the report as “downplaying” China’s action in a segment warning Trump against taking such a stance.

“President Trump also responding to reports that China has offered deadly support to Iran. The Wall Street Journal says satellite images from Beijing were used in Tehran’s attack on a U.S. base in Jordan that killed three American troops,” Roberts began, adding:

Let’s bring in retired Navy Commander Kirk Lippold, former commanding officer of the USS Cole. Kirk, good to have you with us this afternoon. Here’s what the Wall Street Journal wrote about this, in part. They said, quote, “Before Iran carried out its attack that killed three U.S. troops in July, Tehran acquired high-resolution satellite images of the base in Jordan from Chinese entities, according to U.S. officials familiar with the details of the incident. It is the clearest evidence so far that Chinese support for Iran during the war has had lethal consequences for U.S. forces.” If, in fact, that is the case, that would seem to be a serious transgression on China’s part.

“John, it’s more than a transgression. It shows that China now has blood on its hands when it comes to directly supporting the number one state sponsor of terrorism, which has killed hundreds of Americans over the years, and now they are targeting Americans in Jordan, resulting in three service member deaths,” Lippold replied, adding:

We’ve seen, over time, past presidents fail in dealing with Iran, allowing that threat to metastasize to a point where we are now dealing with a country pursuing nuclear weapons. And here you have China—part of the “axis of resistance”—working with Iran, targeting U.S. forces. I think you’re going to see them continue to do that until the United States starts drawing a line, and hopefully President Trump will do that at the September 25th meeting he has with President Xi.

“We shall see. But at the moment, at least in the meantime, the president seems to be downplaying China’s involvement. Here’s what he said aboard Air Force One,” Roberts said before playing an exchange between Trump and the press:

Reporter: We recently reported that Chinese entities may have provided the Iranians with satellite imagery of the air bases this morning.

Trump: They basically do what we do. I would say this—I think he’s behaved reasonably well, and we’ve behaved reasonably well. You know, when they say that China spies on us, I say, you’re right, and we spy on them too.

“I mean, obviously we spy on China, and they spy on us, but providing targeting data to an enemy of the United States would seem to be a move that the president should be very concerned about. I don’t know—maybe he doesn’t want to derail the summit that’s coming up at the end of the month,” Roberts asked.

“He may not want to derail it, but the bottom line is, John, I lived through the consequences of two presidents, Clinton and Bush, who downplayed the threat of al-Qaeda after it killed 17 of my sailors on the USS Cole. And what was the result? We saw it last week with the 25th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11. Downplaying China’s involvement in what they are doing, for the sake of political expediency, is the wrong signal to send,” Lippold replied, adding:

Because when you look at it, China is paying attention to how the United States is dealing with the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, and what our other allies in the region are doing, because they’re watching the militarization of islands throughout the South China Sea—and that is a signal we don’t want to be sending.

We need to draw the line with China and tell them: do not engage in this, do not be involved in this, and you need to decouple yourselves from Iran. Because over time, the United States is not going to allow this to continue as they try to threaten the world.

“Now, I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but apparently, 10 days ago, a Chinese reconnaissance satellite simply disintegrated in space. But to your point, when the president gets together with Xi at the end of this month, he’s got to have some difficult conversations with him behind closed doors,” Roberts followed up.

“Absolutely. I think he needs to address the issue—and this is fairly accurate, both in the news and through sources I’ve heard—of the 400 man-portable anti-aircraft missiles that China has reportedly given Iran to protect facilities like Pickaxe Mountain and others,” Lippold said, adding:

You have to look at the fact that they’re providing this level of targeting data. You need to remember that virtually every Iranian drone flying today flies with a Chinese-made engine. So at the end of the day, when you look at what Russia—and especially China—are providing to Iran, it is bogging us down in the Middle East. The United States needs some of our allies in the Middle East to step up. The Saudis clearly aren’t doing anything when it comes to taking on the Houthi rebels and doing what they need to do. Saudi Arabia needs to fight for its own national security interests, back up Yemeni forces, and take this on.

Watch above via Fox News.

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