Pentagon Letter Suggesting Iraq Troop Withdrawal a "Mistake".
BOLDUAN: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed this morning that the United States denied a visa for the Iranian foreign minister, blocking Javad Zarif from coming to the United States to speak before the U.N. Security Council this week. He was responding to Zarif, tweeting this about the visa earlier, where Zarif asks: "What are they afraid of? Truth." As the foreign minister levels a new threat at the United States during the interview with CNN today. CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins me from Tehran with more on that remarkable interview. Fred, what else did he tell you?</s>FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke (sic). He was absolutely angry still at the United States for that targeted killing of Qasem Soleimani. He called it state terrorism and he vowed that Iran would respond. Now, I asked him, of course, what exactly that kind of response meant and he didn't want to tell me. He said Iran would do it in their own way and on their own time. One of the other things that he said is something that senior Iranian military commanders have also been saying since the killing of Qasem Soleimani, that they believe that the killing could mark the beginning of the end, as they put it, of America's presence in the Middle East. Let's listen to Javad Zarif, the foreign minister of Iran.</s>PLEITGEN: You have said that Iran will retaliate for the targeted killing of General Qasem Soleimani. President Trump said there would be a disproportionate response if you do that. What do you make of President Trump's threats?</s>JAVAD ZARIF, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER: His threats will not frighten us. What he's showing something. He's showing to the international community he has no respect for international law. That he's prepared to commit war crimes because attacking cultural sites is a war crime. In disproportionate response is a war crime. But he doesn't -- he doesn't care it seems about international law. But has he made U.S. more secure? Do Americans feel more secure? Are Americans welcome today in this region? Do they feel welcome?</s>PLEITGEN: Your government and your leadership and the military here has vowed to take action against the United States.</s>ZARIF: The United States --</s>ZARIF: The United States violated three principles. Iraqi sovereignty, and the agreement that they had with Iraq. They got a response from the Iraqi parliament. They violated the emotions of the people. They will get a response from the people. They killed one of our most revered commanders and most-senior commanders and they took responsibility for it. This is state terrorism. This is an act of aggression against Iraq. And it amounts to an armed attack against Iran. And we will respond. But we will respond proportionately, not disproportionately, because we are committed to law. We are law- abiding people. We're not lawless like President Trump.</s>PLEITGEN: You think you can strike at any point?</s>ZARIF: Well, we feel --</s>PLEITGEN: Because you obviously --</s>PLEITGEN: It is no secret you control militias in this region, you have forces on your side in this region in many countries.</s>ZARIF: No. We have people on our side in this region. That's much more important. The United States believes that this beautiful military equipment, according to President Trump, that you spent $2 trillion on this beautiful military equipment. Beautiful military equipment don't rule the world. People rule the world. People. The United States has to wake up to the reality that the people of this region are engaged, that the people of this region want the United States out. And the United States cannot stay in this region with the people of the region not wanting it anymore.</s>PLEITGEN: Would it be worth speaking to him?</s>ZARIF: It doesn't need speaking. He has to realize he has been fed misinformation. And he needs to wake up. And apologize. He has to apologize. He has to change course. He cannot add a mistake upon another mistake. He's just making it worse for America. He's destroying the U.S. Constitution. He's destroying the U.S. political process. He's destroying the rule of law in the United States. But that's not for me to say. That's a domestic affair of the United States. He has enraged the people of our region. He has killed people of this region. He has spent a trillion dollars. He said that U.S. had -- spent $7 trillion in the region. He has added another trillion. Is the United States more secure because of that?</s>PLEITGEN: So there you have it, Kate. Some pretty strong words there coming from the Iranian foreign minister directed -- most of them directed directly at President Trump. Very difficult to see, at this point in time, any sort of diplomatic way forward that could emerge. Even though we always have to point out that both sides are saying, Kate, that they don't want this to descend into a full-on war in the Middle East -- Kate?</s>BOLDUAN: That's exactly right. So what does de-escalation look like? Fred, thank you very much. I really, really appreciate it. Great work there. Stuck in the middle of this tug of war, if you will, between the United States and Iran, you have Iraq. Defense Secretary Mark Esper saying the United States is not withdrawing troops from the country. Needing to offer that clarity because this comes after a draft memo from a one-star U.S. general to Iraqi leaders, Iraqi counterpart, released suggesting that the United States was preparing to withdraw troops. Let's go to CNN senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon, for much more on that. She's in Baghdad. Arwa, how are Iraqis reacting to the confusion and what really is mixed signals?</s>ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And with a lot of confusion, which doesn't really help the situation, given how tense it is. And how well aware they are of the fact that their country at the moment is, by all counts, the physical battlefield between this brewing war between Washington and Tehran. After that letter inadvertently came out last night, we then have the U.S. military in a position where they're saying, no, we're not withdrawing our forces. Well, that didn't necessarily play out very well here, given that the parliament has asked foreign forces to leave, although the request hasn't officially been made to the U.S. But to have America come out and say, no, at this stage, we are not withdrawing, then created something of a backlash from the various different Iranian-backed paramilitary groups here where they said they're going to be coming together to create, as they put it, resistance front should the Americans decide they somehow want to stay. On top of all of this, President Trump is also threatening sanctions. This is a country, Kate, that knows the effect of sanctions very, very well. They suffered through it back in the 1990s. We were talking about this earlier today, and they were saying, look, the Iraq of today is not the Iraq of the '90s. Iraq is not an international pariah the way it was under Saddam Hussein. They said we have friends and we have alternatives. So the effect of the sanctions, when talking to people on the street, they say, will not necessarily be the same. But it most certainly is going to impact the country at a time when it is very economically fragile, at a time when unemployment is significantly high, and has been one of the causes behind the anti- government protests that we saw going on here for months. So you really have a nation that is stuck between these two powers. And one that knows that either way this plays out, Kate, they are going to be the ones who pay the price.</s>BOLDUAN: Arwa, thank you for being there. Thanks so much. Coming up for us, after John Bolton's surprise announcement that he's willing to testify in the Senate impeachment trial, is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell now under new pressure to allow witnesses? The new state of play on Capitol Hill, next.