ISIS Uses Chemical Weapons and Top General Blames Russia For UN Convoy Attack

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THE TOPLINE: The Pentagon’s top leaders testified on Capitol Hill on Thursday, where members of the Senate Armed Services Committee grilled them on ISIS, Russia and Iran.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria targeted an Iraqi military base where hundreds of U.S. troops are stationed with a chemical weapon.

“We assess it to be a sulfur-mustard blister agent,” Dunford said. “It wasn’t particularly effective but it was a concerning development.”

Dunford also said Russia is responsible for the bombing of a United Nations humanitarian convoy earlier this week in Syria.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Russians are responsible. We just don’t know who dropped the bombs,” he said.

However, he added there were Syrian regime aircraft in the area. He also said that if the U.S. military were to begin cooperating with Russia in Syria as an agreement calls for, it would not be sharing intelligence.

“We don’t have any intention of intelligence sharing with the Russians. … The U.S. military role will not include sharing intel with the Russians.”

Click here for more on the story.

IRAN PAYMENT: During the hearing, Dunford also called it “troubling that the Iran military will get money the U.S. paid to Iran to settle a failed arms deal.

“It certainly is troubling. The more funds that they have available, obviously the more effective they’ll be in spreading malign influence,” he said.

He was responding to questioning by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), who referenced recent reports that the Iranian government has approved a law that would allocate the $1.7 billion to its military.

Dunford also said Iran continues to be one of the lead sponsors of terrorism around the world.

“I describe their major export as ‘malign influence,'” he told Ayotte.

The Hill has more here.

PENTAGON CHIEF WORRIED ABOUT 9/11 BILL: Defense Secretary Ash Carter says he is worried that a bill letting U.S. citizens sue the Saudi government over the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks would be used against U.S. troops.

“I associate with myself with the intention of the bill, which is to honor the 9/11 families. It is a law enforcement matter, and we are not the ones who are dealing with it, and I am not an expert,” Carter said Thursday at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

“But what might be a complication is that were another country to behave reciprocally, this could be a problem for our service members, and this is something that, at the Department of Defense, we are concerned about,” he added.

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he agreed.

Click here for the story.

IRANIAN PRESIDENT HINTS AT MORE PAYMENTS WITH US: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hinted at future coordinated prisoner swaps and lawsuit settlements between the U.S. and his country as the Obama administration faces bipartisan heat over the $1.7 billion cash payment to Iran.

Rouhani told NBC’s Chuck Todd in an interview published Thursday that a January prisoner swap and settlement of a decades-old lawsuit ran on “parallel tracks,” and that similar arrangements could happen in the future.

“These two issues [were] being talked about simultaneously on parallel tracks,” said Rouhani. “And perhaps these dialogues can be still conducted simultaneously on parallel tracks while we’re conducting those same conversations in order to free the sums of money that are still owed to us.”

The House is expected to vote Thursday on a bill that would block cash payments to Iran and add transparency requirements to future lawsuit settlements between the U.S. and Iran.

The Hill’s Sylvan Lane has the story here.

ICYMI:

— The Hill: Senators seek to boost women in international forces

— The Hill: Watchdog: Afghan anti-corruption office ineffective

— The Hill: Albright: Trump’s slogan should be ‘Russia First’

— NPR: Syrian President Bashar Assad Says U.S. ‘Not Genuine’ About Cease-Fire

— Al Jazeera: Iraq: Security forces recapture Shirqat from ISIS

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