Two prominent Republican senators have split with President Trump over his decision to end government security for former officials who are in Iran’s crosshairs.  VOA also  disagrees with Trump.

     Last week, Trump, 78, cut off funding for security for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, ex-national security adviser John Bolton and others.  Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), both outspoken GOP backers of Trump, are encouraging the president to re-evaluate that move.  “I would encourage the president to revisit the decision for those people who are being targeted by Iran,” said Cotton, 47, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee.  “I’ve reviewed the intelligence in the last few days. The threat to anyone involved in President Trump’s strike on Qasem Soleimani is persistent. It’s real. Iran is committed to vengeance against all of these people,” he added.  In early 2020, Trump ordered a strike to kill Iranian Gen. Soleimani, who had been the leader of Tehran’s Quds Force. Since the assassination, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has vowed to pursue revenge.

     Two years later, Khamenei’s website showed an animation of Pompeo being targeted by an aircraft that looks like a bomber or drone on one of Trump’s golf courses.  That same year, the Justice Department slapped charges against Shahram Poursafi, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps member who allegedly schemed to kill Bolton in 2021 and 2022.  “If people are going to work for the president now on Iran or China or North Korea or the Mexican drug cartels, they might hesitate to do so” because of the security withdrawal, Cotton warned.