To all who seek to know the truth, I pray that you will receive from GOD today, what you need to know in a way that you can understand and accept it.
I am here to give you urgently needed information. The whole world is in a chaotic upheaval. The shaking is going on. We are moving into a time of WAR. The politicians and the magicians are calling for it, worshipping MARS the God of War and Athena the Goddess of War. But, that is not what this post is about. Included in this post is a lot of information about what is happening in our world.
The controllers are using everything available to break down any belief in the ONE TRUE CREATOR. Every kind of Pagan religion, False beliefs, Self glorification, etc… is being stirred up across the earth. Communism, fascisim, socialism, environmentalism, scientism, you name it. IT is all meant to pull the rug out from under the masses and leave us feeling angry and helpless. They know they cannot accomplish their goal in anyone who holds fast to the belief in the One True and Living GOD.
As we move closer and closer to Armageddon, and the establishment of the AntiChrist kingdom, I want you to consider one very important thing. AntiChrist is soon to appear. There is an Ex-Muslim Terrorist who has been warning us for years that the AntiChrist will rise from among the Muslim Nations. Are you familiar with Walid Shoebat? He actually went before Congress somewhere around 2008, to share what he believed to be evidence that the Muslims were to bring in the AntiChrist. In the following article he warned in 2014 about the rise of the Ottoman Empire and the leader of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
That is where I am going to begin. The article can be read in full by clicking the Title Link. I am only including excerpts here because there is so much to cover, and this is just the beginning.
Please review this post in its entirety and don’t dismiss it. Prayerfully consider all that is disclosed here. If none of this matters to you, that is fine. But, if you are a seeker of truth, as I am, you will find a lot revealed here. I have an inquiring mind, and I like to know. I am so thankful that God leads me to all truth…
It has been easy for Americans in the past to just not worry much about what went on in the middle east. But, now-a-days, due to all the forced illegal immigration (did you not even wonder why they were forcing so many Muslim immigrants into every possible nation? yes, there were other immigrants as well…but Nations were being forced to accept Muslims even though they were behaving violently and raping and seizing neighborhoods every where they went.) around the world, their problems are fast becoming our own. Not only that, as we get closer to the end, the place to watch is the land where GOD wrote HIS NAME. EVERYTHING is going to be about the Middle East, more specifically ISRAEL.
Walid’s 2014 article was not taken to seriously by most people. Even those who thought it rang true, rather dismissed it when nothing seemed to come of it. Today, I bet some people may wish they had paid attention.
Jerusalem should be your favorite city. After all, it’s the city that God has chosen for Himself in 1 Kings 11:13 “However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.” Ancient maps put Jerusalem In the center of the world, and I think they were right. Jerusalem is also God’s timepiece. The final events of world history will culminate there with the glorious return of Jesus Christ to the Mount of Olives. Mentioned over 800 times in God’s Word—Jerusalem is a very important place. It was in Jerusalem that God promised Christ’s coming as the Lamb of God to Abraham. It was here that David was promised a future son that would have an endless kingdom. It was here God has worked. In: Jerusalem! Three thousand years of lifetimes! Abraham and Isaac upon the altar of Moriah, a stone’s throw from here! David, the shepherd-king, watching Bathsheba from a distance. Jeremiah, mourning for the exiles. Jesus, teaching in the Temple. Peter’s betrayal. Jesus, walking the Way of Sorrows! Dying with forgiveness on his lips. Peter, shouting the good news in the streets on Pentecost! He is risen! Call on His name and live forever with Him! But this week Jerusalem showed up alongside that four-letter-word I mentioned two weeks ago I-R-A-N, which continues to capture my spiritual attention in the news reports. When Iran attacking Israel and then Jerusalem is added, that is huge on the radar screen of God’s plans for the future. Remember, Israel is the barometer that indicates when storms lie ahead for this world. Israel is God’s timepiece for telling prophetic time. That is the problem that the Old Testament prophet Zechariah (12:3) calls the heavy stone or burdensome stone. Please stand with me as we listen to God’s Word: And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it (KJV).
Stage set for possible Israel-Iran clash; and Judea, Samaria want Washington to stay Trump’s course in biblical heartland; plus do South Africans think Israel is an Apartheid state? And Holocaust remembrance at Israel’s heart-wrenching memorial.
The battle of Gog and Magog is brewing! Turkey will lead Libya, Iran and Ethiopia (or Sudan) in an invasion into Israel! Ezekiel 38 tells us about a Turkish led invasion of Israel. Iran, Libya, and Ethiopia will be with them. This is called “the battle of Gog and Magog”.
Eze 38:5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
Today all of these nations are in one accord against Israel.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi addressed reports claiming Israel is contemplating an attack on his country, saying: “Iran has always been threatened by Israel. This is nothing new.”
In an interview with Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News, Salehi warned that if any country attempts to assault Iran, the Islamic Republic is prepared to retaliate. “We are very certain of our powers. We can defend our country,” he claimed.
Commenting on the relationship between Turkey, Syria and Iran, the Foreign Minister said the three nations are “members of the same family”. If one is in trouble, another one will come to its help.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday during a visit to the Libyan city of Benghazi, Salehi directed his anger at the United States, stating that “The US has unfortunately lost its wisdom and prudence in dealing with international issues. It only depends on power.
Turkey has also recently made economic and scientific alliances with Ethiopia.
Today Turkey has a leader that fits the Magog profile. His name is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He became Prime Minister of Turkey in 2003. He is a devout Muslim and has an ingrained animosity toward Israel. He also has a volatile disposition. He has been over-zealous in his public hatred and provocation toward Israel. While most Middle Eastern despots are being besieged and exiled, Prime Minister Erdoğan is popular and gaining in popularity. Erdoğan has continued to publicly overstate his condemnation of Israel.
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There is a lot going on related to the Middle East. Forces are at work that really no one fully understands. The tensions over Iranian nuclear power are mounting. Irans threats are stirring it up and Turkey is becoming a force that is gaining momentum.
January 6, 2021 cartoon in Qatari Al-Sharq daily: “Our Gulf is one”
The summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), held on January 5, 2021 in the Saudi city of Al-Ula, announced a reconciliation among the Gulf countries and the start of a new era in the region. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, known as the Arab Quartet, ended their economic and diplomatic boycott of Qatar that lasted more than three years. Led by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, the move to lift the boycott was mediated by Kuwait and followed heavy pressure from the outgoing Trump administration, especially from Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. To date, the understandings that led to the Gulf reconciliation have not been disclosed.
The success of the reconciliation as a comprehensive Gulf move is doubtful. While declaring that a new era has begun, Gulf officials stress that the reconciliation cannot be completed before confidence-building measures are carried out, and that fundamental conflicts between Qatar and the Quartet still remain to be settled. If the reconciliation does prove to be successful, as Saudi Arabia hopes, its repercussions may transcend the borders of the Gulf and impact many issues in the Arab and Muslim world, and beyond. Source
Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman receives Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad at the airport in Al-Ula (Al-Quds Al-Arabi, London, January 5, 2021)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has decided to hold talks with Saudi Arabia and return the Turkish ambassador to Tel Aviv.
Ankara is engaging in secret talks with Jerusalem to restart their relationship, including discussion of a possible pipeline between the two countries to ship Mediterranean natural gas to Europe. Sourc
Turkey’s true goal should not be forgotten: to isolate Israel in the region while continuing to delegitimize it abroad.
Wherever one finds anti-Israel campaigns, Qatari money and Turkish government influence are likely behind them. Turkey is problematic in many other ways. It has hacked Israeli news sites, chased away an Israeli research vessel conducting natural gas exploration, undermined Israel’s regional partners, and threatened to conquer Tel Aviv and “liberate” Jerusalem, a city Erdogan claims is Turkish. Turkey’s maritime border demarcation with the UN-backed government of Libya aims to scupper Israel’s natural gas pipeline through Cyprus to Europe, a pipeline that is critical to Israel’s future economic and political interests. What’s more, Ankara’s new ambassador to Israel is vehemently anti-Zionist.
Ankara’s hosting of Hamas leaders, which entails granting them citizenship and allowing them to plan terror and cyberattacks against the Jewish state from Turkish territory, is further evidence, if any more is needed, that Turkey is no friend to Israel. It is an increasingly dangerous regional rival that flouts international law, violates human rights, destabilizes countries, commits war crimes, and supports international terrorism. Source
Today’s top stories 28.01.21; 1) Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi emphasizes that Iran remains the number one threat to Israel’s national security. 2) The United States has suspended its sale of F-35 Stealth aircraft to the United Arab Emirates – pending a review. 3) German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas insists that while not perfect, the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran is the best tool to scrutinize Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Host Erick Stakelbeck breaks down the meeting between U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, and top Israeli military officials in Israel on Thursday, January 28th. What was discussed and what are Iran’s latest threats against Israel? Plus, Why has U.S.
WHAT DOES GOD SAY ABOUT TODAY’S NEWS FROM IRAN? Here’s my class on this very topic. Newsweek reported today: The Iranian armed forces have threatened to take out two Mediterranean cities should Israel follow through with new military plans announced the day prior by the country’s top general.
fight begins : Iranian sink the US warship while conducting missile strike drills along coast South China Sea. IRANIAN has engaged in a terrifying military operation on the last full day of Donald Trump’s presidency and less than 24 hours before Joe Biden is sworn into office, as a top military chief warns “our fingers are on the trigger. Iranian army commandos and paratroopers have engaged in a series of combative exercises on the Gulf coast near Oman. During the mock war games, paratroopers practiced abseiling from a helicopter behind enemy lines and images captured troops running with a firearm along the beach. Dramatic pictures also showed a heavy-duty tank firing missiles at distant targets creating a huge fire explosion. In a stark warning, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami said the exercise demonstrates Iran’s defense capabilities and warned its armed forces stand ready for warfare. Speaking to Iranian state TV, he said: The recent war games show to enemies the Iranian nations will to defend its independence and territorial integrity, Our fingers are on the trigger on behalf of the nation.
By Walid Shoebat (Shoebat Exclusive) with special thanks to The Right Scoop
In what we consider to be the most shocking video recordings of Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at two speeches in Istanbul which reveals the amazing evidence to what Shoebat.com has been saying over a decade, the spirit, goal and aim of the Muslim Antichrist which seems to all manifest in Turkey’s star leader. Erdogan expressed his desire to catapult Turkey into an Islamic Empire stemming from Istanbul and covering the entire Muslim world in support of the Caliphate dream map of a ten-Muslim state confideracy.
In two remarkable astonishing recorded speeches one can summarize the definition of Antichrist, who is a Hitler type figure, except this arising prince is not originating from Europe’s Germany but from Turkey (1). The Turkish Sultan wanna be Caliph, Hitler-Erdogan, who is beginning to fit the bill as he displayed his demonic tirades and hallucinations proclaiming Muslims as a special people going as far as propounding the “Sun Language Theory”, which described how the Turkish language was the world’s original language from which all others were derived as in the original Babel. He claimed Muslims discovered America before Columbus and that when Cuba was first discovered it had a mosque on a hill and thereby a mosque should be built there.
Erdogan in intent was really reiterating the Quran in which it stated that the “earth belongs to Allah” and that Turkey will usher the Prince of the Faithful who will be the Caliph, Allah’s custodian of the Muslim world.
Erdogan and Hitler have much in common, even that Hitler as Erdogan admired Islam and wanted it for Germany instead of what he termed “flabby Christianity” when Hitler stated: “”You see, it’s been our misfortune to have the wrong religion. Why didn’t we have the religion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the highest good? The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness….” (Quoted from Albert Speer’s memoirs)
And in another recording of yet a more significant speech, (2) In this remarkable speech Erdogan says it all:
Erdogan said: “this war [WWI] shaped the Middle East today. And more importantly, it sparked all the crisis and conflicts”
He then hones in on the necessity of a neo-Ottomanist plan complaining blaming a western caused Sunni-Siite sectarian divide and that a western aggressive policy is taking place that aims to to dominate the region emphasising the need to revive the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, (which once ruled the greater part of the known world.)
Erdogan vows to remove “the zigzags” (borders) saying “I will not go into detail”.
Once one putts together all the pieces of his speech, Erdogan is speaking of the very map of ISIS, intending to remove borders in order to establish the very ten Muslim state league which they currently proclaimed as 13 states, that is, after they reclaim Spain, eastern Europe and Ethiopia.
The very deadly wound and the sick man of Europe (the Ottomans) was blamed on the West and Erdogan wants to not only heal it, but to revive its deadly wound:
“The Ottoman State was able to to maintain the entire region in unity and harmony. Now we all need to accept that above all“.
The world according to Erdogan, needs to accept the Ottoman sovereignty to rule the entire Muslim world and more, not only Europe, but even the Americas was discovered by Muslims, therefore, it too belong to Islam. As Shoebat.com revealed in the past, Erdogan now says that he wants to bring in a Shiite-Sunni unity:
Erdogan is speaking of a worldwide Sunni-Shiite unification, which will include Shiite Iran.
Iran and Turkey are locked into an alliance. Erdoğan even sacrificed Fethullah Gülen on the altar of Iranian-Turkish unity and it even clashed with Israel over several issues’ like the Gaza Flotilla and Erodgan’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s made much effort to improve ties with Iran. We have been addressing Turkey for two decades, way back when Turkey was an ally of Israel; we were laughed at when we said that the two would become mortal enemies.
The Ezekiel 38 program is on course, Gog is a leader from Turkey who unites with Persia (Iran), Libya and Egypt in the Muslim “league” (Ezekiel 30:8). Erdogan a Sunni declared it openly now, he is interested in a grand dream; uniting Shiite and Sunni, Kurd and Druze, Syrian and Turk under one banner, with the masses behind him carrying the “fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow” flags (Revelation 9:17) alongside the dragon-red flag with the two-horned crescent of Islam even aiming his attention on the woman-clothed with the sun, Israel whom through the Church and God’s appointed Messiah will crush this crescent under the woman’s feet. Erdogan’s partner, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is already crying out for not only Jerusalem, but sovereignty over what was the Holy Temple of God:
“Nothing will keep Turkey from “protecting Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa Mosque [Temple Mount]”
The situation is of two Gods, one who says “I will not be silent” when it comes to Al-Quds [Jerusalem], trying to mimic the ancient God of the Hebrew: “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch” (Isaiah 62:1) Erdogan said to the OIC (Organization of Islamic Council) that “Jerusalem is the apple of the eye of every Muslim” mimicking God “whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye” (Zechariah 2:7-8)
We stated back in July “It is crucial to note that Turkey is the best candidate to make peace between Shiites and Sunnis because they are Sufi Muslim” and now Erdogan addresses the issue, just as we predicted he will:
Erdogan is calling to establish a covenant “peace treaty with many” stating that Turkey is the only beacon to do this:
“Turkey by taking the right steps is the only country that can ensure peace and stability in the region“
He wants to bring the entire Muslim world at the table to give allegiance to the Ottomans who in his view by bringing them to establish a peace treaty will unite the entire Muslim world.
If an antichrist is to rise, Erdogan or Davutoğlu are the two best candidates, whether one of them is or is not, these truly manifest some signs. We were correct this whole time, Erdogan, from the prophetic vision, to predicting the conspiracy aiding ISIS against the western powers.
Shockingly, Erdogan then hones in the harlot, Arabia:
“A hundred years ago there were spies in the Arabian desert aiming to destroy the Ottoman Empire and they still exist today”
Notice, the “spies” are the Arabs allied with the western coalition who a century ago gave the final crushing blow to the Ottoman and now are still current via the U.S-led coalition.
Its a century old wound and as we said, the Muslim will revenge, even if it takes him a hundred years later, we have stated it countless times, both Iran and Turkey want revenge and this means their fill of the Arab harlot’s blood, the desert which issued forth the blood-drinking religion of Islam and Mecca will pay the price through destruction. Saudi Arabia, the nation that allowed the Islamist boogeyman out of the box will be as the mother spider who gets eaten by her offspring.
“Illinois-Based Sheikh Omar Baloch: Islamic Relief Organizations Should Promote the Caliphate as the Long-Term Solution to Humanitarian Problems,” MEMRI, January 29, 2019
Clip No. 7053
The caliphate is, in Sunni Islamic theology, the sole legitimate government to which Muslims owe loyalty. It is ruled by a caliph, the military, political, and spiritual successor of Muhammad, and implements Islamic law, which is considered the non-negotiable law of Allah.
How loyal do you think Sheikh Omar Baloch is to the American system of non-establishment of a religion and a republican governmental system?
That’s right, not loyal at all.
But to question him about this would be “Islamophobic.”
“Illinois-Based Sheikh Omar Baloch
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The caliphate is, in Sunni Islamic theology, the sole legitimate government to which Muslims owe loyalty. It is ruled by a caliph, the military, political, and spiritual successor of Muhammad, and implements Islamic law, which is considered the non-negotiable law of Allah.
How loyal do you think Sheikh Omar Baloch is to the American system of non-establishment of a religion and a republican governmental system?
That’s right, not loyal at all.
But to question him about this would be “Islamophobic.”
On January 29, 2019, Illinois-based Sheikh Omar Baloch uploaded a video titled “Constructive Criticism of Islamic Relief Organizations” to his YouTube channel. In the video, Baloch said that Islamic relief organizations do not place enough emphasis on the establishment of an Islamic caliphate as the long-term solution to humanitarian problems. He said that the problem is that many Islamic organizations are scared to lose funding if they are too vocal about the establishment of a caliphate, and he criticized them because they “wear the garb of [piety]” by providing aid, but they do not call out the “forces of injustice,” for which they are serving as a “bandage.” He said that such organizations should use their platform to convey a message about the common dream, legacy, and hope of Muslims, and he elaborated: “We all have a higher goal… that is bigger than us, and that is the establishment of the caliphate.”According to the Facebook page of the Furqaan Institute of Quranic Education (FIQE), Sheikh Omar Baloch was born in Chicago and is the scholar in residence at the Al-Furqaan Foundation, of which FIQE is a division. The Facebook page also says that Baloch studied at Georgetown University, at Al-Azhar University in Egypt, at Jamia Thul Ahlul Hadith in Pakistan.
In nearly all cases, the jihadi terrorists have a patently self-evident ambition: to establish a world dominated by Muslims, Islam, and Islamic law, the Shari’a. Or, again to cite the Daily Telegraph, their “real project is the extension of the Islamic territory across the globe, and the establishment of a worldwide ‘caliphate’ founded on Shari’a law.”
Terrorists openly declare this goal. The Islamists who assassinated Anwar el-Sadat in 1981 decorated their holding cages with banners proclaiming the “caliphate or death.” A biography of one of the most influential Islamist thinkers of recent times and an influence on Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzamdeclares that his life “revolved around a single goal, namely the establishment of Allah’s Rule on earth” and restoring the caliphate.
Bin Laden himself spoke of ensuring that “the pious caliphate will start from Afghanistan.” His chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, also dreamed of re-establishing the caliphate, for then, he wrote, “history would make a new turn, God willing, in the opposite direction against the empire of the United States and the world’s Jewish government.” Another Al-Qaeda leader, Fazlur Rehman Khalil, publishes a magazine that has declared “Due to the blessings of jihad, America’s countdown has begun. It will declare defeat soon,” to be followed by the creation of a caliphate.
Or, as Mohammed Bouyeri wrote in the note he attached to the corpse of Theo van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker he had just assassinated, “Islam will be victorious through the blood of martyrs who spread its light in every dark corner of this earth.”
Interestingly, van Gogh’s murderer was frustrated by the mistaken motives attributed to him, insisting at his trial: “I did what I did purely out of my beliefs. I want you to know that I acted out of conviction and not that I took his life because he was Dutch or because I was Moroccan and felt insulted.”
Although terrorists state their jihadi motives loudly and clearly, Westerners and Muslims alike too often fail to hear them. Islamic organizations, Canadian author Irshad Manji observes, pretend that “Islam is an innocent bystander in today’s terrorism.”
What the terrorists want is abundantly clear.It requires monumental denial not to acknowledge it,but we Westerners have risen to the challenge.
Democrats’ crowing that their 2020 platform on Israel is a victory for the moderates is disingenuous. The Democrat party’s 2020 platform is not pro-Israel. It is pro-Iran.
The Democrat party’s platform promises to return to the Iran nuclear deal and rejects regime change “as the goal of U.S. policy toward Iran.” The opening statement of the platform stresses:
“Democrats will call off the Trump Administration’s race to war with Iran and prioritize nuclear diplomacy, de-escalation and regional dialogue. Democrats believe the United States should not impose regime change on other countries and reject that as the goal of U.S policy towards Iran.”
Translation: Obama’s appeasement of Iran’s nuclear and regional ambitions is back.
A nuclear Iran is an existential threat to Israel. The Obama/Biden administration handed $150 billion to the Iranian mullahs, which financed both Iran’s nuclear program and its financing of global terrorism. This money propped up a regime that had been facing strong internal opposition. Biden’s campaign promise to return to the Iran nuclear deal on Day One is memorialized in the Democrats’ platform. They will undo President Trump’s stringent sanctions which are destroying the economic base of the Iranian regime. This one action alone undermines all the Democrats’ assurances about support for a “strong, secure, democratic Israel.”
A nuclear Iran by definition makes Israel insecure.
The platform does not guarantee that Israel will remain a Jewish state. The language in the platform before 2012 made clear that there was no Palestinian right of return to Israel. Removing the explicit language that Palestinians have a right to resettle is creating another existential threat to Israel.
The Democrats’ platform promises to oppose any effort “to unfairly single out and delegitimize Israel.” Who is going to define “unfairly?” According to Democrats, BDS is not unfairly singling out Israel; it is protected free speech.
The Democrat platform’s opposition to settlement expansion will lead to the same endless criticism of Israel that marked the Obama/Biden administration. What is settlement expansion? Is it adding bathrooms to existing structures, as Obama/ Biden insisted? Memorably, Biden threw a temper tantrum when Israeli authorities had the temerity to announce an advance in a stage towards building permits for homes in a Jerusalem neighborhood while Biden was in town. With that outburst, Biden has signaled just how shaky his pledge is to keep Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The platform never reveals its definition of Jerusalem’s boundaries.
And while the document affirms Biden’s statements that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and that he would not move the embassy back to Tel Aviv, Biden has also said that he would open a consulate in eastern Jerusalem for the Arab Palestinians. So are the Democrats creating a new entity of East Jerusalem? So much for the denunciation in the Democrats’ platform of unilateral steps, which apparently only refer to ones taken by Israel.
The Democrats’ party platform, with its firm opposition to Israel extending sovereignty to Jewish communities, also leaves the Palestinian Authority with no incentive to negotiate with Israel. No, with this platform, everything reverts back to the PA simply waiting for the inevitable appeasement by a Democrat administration and pressuring of Israel to make still more concessions just to bring the PA “back to the table.”
While the Democrats’ platform does not tie U.S. military aid to Israel renouncing its sovereignty in areas byond the 1949 Armistice Lines, Senator Van Hollen (D-MD) led an effort joined by 19 Democrat senators to block U.S. military aid if Israel uses it to “annex territory.” Well, that sure sounds like the Democrats are gearing up to tie military aid to controlling Israel’s internal decisions.
The Democrats’ 2020 platform is a return to the Obama policy of appeasement to Iran’s nuclear ambitions and to Iran’s plans for regional hegemony. According to former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, “The Biden/Obama administration deliberately damaged the relationship between the United States and Israel.”
So the Democrats’ claim that the 2020 Platform reveals that the Progressive wing of the Democratic party was shut down was greatly exaggerated.
Carol S. Greenwald is Chairman of Jews Choose Trump
Some big name Traitors are revealed and what does Obama’s Birth Certificate really show. Covid is revealed again as a Huge Hoax with names attached. A T.V. Station being built at Gitmo ? (Guantanamo) – For what purpose.
Last week we posted on how Barak Obama’s deputy national security adviser and congenital liar, Ben Rhodes, was denied a security clearance by the FBI because his very, very, very close ties to the Iranian government and how he somehow got one anyway.Now that Obama is gone and people are no longer afraid of retribution, that Rhodes and his fellow travelers allowed the Iranian government to craft the Iran nuclear deal that Obama persuaded a callow, feckless and rather dense Bob Corker to push through the US Senate.
Two high-level Iranian government backers, including a former Islamic Republic official and another accused of lobbying on Tehran’s behalf, were hosted at the Obama White House for more than 30 meetings with top officials at key junctures in the former administration’s contested diplomacy with Iran, according to White House visitor logs that provide a window into the former administration’s outreach to leading pro-Iran advocates.
Seyed Mousavian, a former Iranian diplomat and head of its national security council, was hosted at the White House at least three times, while Trita Parsi, a pro-Iran advocate long accused of hiding his ties to the Iranian government, met with Obama administration officials some 33 times, according to recently updated visitor logs.
Sources familiar with the nature of the meetings told the Washington Free Beacon that both Parsi and Mousavian helped the White House craft its pro-Iran messaging and talking points that helped lead to the nuclear agreement with Iran.These efforts were part of a larger pro-Iran deal “echo chamber” led by senior Obama administration officials who were tasked with misleading Congress about the nature of the deal.
Mousavian, who also served as Iran’s spokesperson during negotiations with the international community on the Iran deal, visited with White House National Security Council official Robert Malley, who advised the former president about the Middle East and the Islamic State terror group.
… Peter Kohanloo, president of the Iranian American Majority, which opposes the hardline regime in Tehran, said that advocates such as Mousavian and Parsi played a key role in ensuring the Iran deal was inked.
“I would say the fact that the Iranian regime’s top advocate had such a high level of access to the Obama White House tells you everything you need to know about how the nuclear deal was made and why President Trump rightfully called it a bad deal,” Kohanloo said. “The new administration should immediately rethink its approach to the Iranian threat and discard the policies of the past.”
The Iran deal was nothing more or less that the abject capitulation of the United States and the sell out of the handful of allies we have in the region.We got nothing from the deal.Iran got to establish a sphere of influence that now includes Iraq and Syria. It got to keep 100% of its nuclear capacity. It got to keep IAEA inspectors on a short leash. It got the United States to send Iran some $1.8 billion in cash and 120 tons of uranium. And it got a commitment from the United States to defend Iran’s nuclear infrastructure from direct and cyber attacks.
At some point people need to stop obsessing on Mike Flynn’s calls to the Russian Ambassador in Washington and start focusing on the extent to which Barack Obama’s White House served as a willing proxy for the strategic objectives of the Iranian government.
Now if you are thinking that Barack is gone and no longer in a position to harm us… you are not paying attention. Barack has been running things from his Washington DC base. He works to undermine our government and our laws by working with NGO’s and Corporations, he has been the driving force behind the elections, the Democratic party and the candidates. Research it for yourself, or read my articles where I have done the research and made it available to you. Just about every person in the Biden/HARRIS cabinet are lackeys of Barack Obama, as are most if not all of the appointees they were allowed to select. IF you don’t know that Barack Obama is still running the show…you are an Ostrich.
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IranPoliticsClub
Website For Thinking Iranians
Is Obama a Muslim? Nicholas Ginex nickginex@gmail.com March 23, 2016 Obama Real Picture in Turban and Islamic Garb
Barack Hussein Obama is dressed in traditional Islamic turban and garb as a Somali elder. Sheikh Mahmed Hassan is teaching Obama how to properly dress himself in an Islamic garb. This event has occurred during his visit to Wajir in northeastern Kenya, near the borders with Somalia and Ethiopia. The picture was taken when Obama went on a visit to Africa as a senator. Obama, whose father and his father’s family were Kenyan Muslims, visited Wajir in Kenya’s north-east, close to the Somali and Ethiopian borders, and was dressed by locals as a Somali elder on 2006. Is Obama a Muslim? This is the question which many Americans have been asking themselves! We will now dissect the issue, analyze it, and bring forward the facts. We will give you the facts and you will decide on your own that if in fact, Obama is a Muslim? Another Muslim Terrorist attack on the west, this time in Belgium and another 30 second condolences from Obama while he was off to Cuba watching a baseball game with his Communist comrade Raul Castro who killed and jailed thousands of people; Obama did not have time to take a serious stand against Islamic Terrorism in the world. Obama still refuses to even call it Islamic Terrorism! Let us see why? Obama Humor Picture in Turban and Islamic GarbOn April 6, 2009, according to President Barack Obama, “The United States is not and will never be at war with Islam.” He believes, “Islam is a religion that preaches peace.” For an educated man, Obama has had a poor schooling of the history of Islam. He appears to be unaware that after the death of Muhammad in 632 CE, in only 29 years, Muslim armies created an Islamic Empire that extended over an enormous territory, stretching from India to Spain and on the other side of the Mediterranean, captured all of North Africa, including Africa’s east coast down to Madagascar. History verifies that Islam is a religion that has grown by taking the wealth of other countries, will not tolerate the existence of other religions, and forced conversion to Islam not through peace and love but by the choice to either pay a tax to survive or be killed.Obama is correct. The United States will never be at war with Islam because one does not fight a religion. However, the U.S. will definitely be at war with any Islamic country whose Islamic leaders use religion to terrorize and murder innocent people. In light of the number of Islamic terror attacks against U.S. allies in Paris, France and Brussels, Belgium in November of 2015, one question why the President of the United States refuses to declare war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Is President Obama willing to gamble the lives of the American people by not declaring war against ISIS? Does his strategy make sense to sit back as our allies defend themselves while he procrastinates until terrorist attacks become a common event in the U.S.? Obama under the Banner of Allah La Elaha Ella Allah, Muhammad Al Rasul Allah
(There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet)
Obama: Shoosh, don’t tell anyone about my true nature! Keep it hush hush. I must remain a “Closet Muslim”! 8 years of my presidency is the best evidence that I am a Muslim but some fools still deny it! For the sake of those fools, still keep it hush hush!There are deep concerns by Americans who are beginning to seriously question President Obama’s actions because he appears more intent on defending and supporting Muslims than the American people. Let’s examine why such concerns are justified by enumerating the many actions by Obama that reveals he has a strong affinity for the Muslim people and the Islamic religion. After 14 people were killed and 17 wounded on December 2, 2015 in San Bernardino, California, Americans will be closely listening to President Obama to see if he will finally state that the terrorism is due to radical Islamic ideology. The letter to Obama listed below was built upon an article provided by the ‘X’ Zone Radio / TV Show hosted by Rob McConnell. It reveals that Obama has been a strong supporter of Muslims and Islamic values in America since he first came to serve as President of the United States. So much so, that Americans are rightfully beginning to question his determination to destroy ISIS and insure the safety of the American people.Obama, It Was You!President Obama:This is why you didn’t go to France to show solidarity against the Muslim terrorists:● It was you who spoke these words at an Islamic dinner -“I am one of you.” ● It was you who on ABC News absentmindedly said, “My Muslim faith.” ● It was you who gave $100 million in U.S. taxpayer funds to re-build foreign mosques. ● It was you who wrote in The Audacity of Hope that in the event of a conflict, “I will stand with them (Muslims) should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.” Will you have America fight Muslims who support Islamic terrorism? ● It was you who assured the Egyptian Foreign Minister that. “I am a Muslim.” ● It was you who bowed in submission before the Saudi King. ● It was you who sat for 20 years in a Liberation Theology Church condemning Christianity and professing Marxism. ● It was you who exempted Muslims from penalties under Obamacare that the rest of us have to pay. ● It was you who purposefully omitted, “endowed by our Creator” from your recitation of The Declaration of Independence. ● It was you who mocked the Bible and Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Mount while repeatedly referring to the ‘HOLY’ Qur’an. ● It was you who travelled the Islamic world denigrating the United States of America. ● It was you who instantly threw the support of your administration behind the building of the Ground Zero Victory mosque overlooking the hallowed crater of the World Trade Center. ● It was you who refused to attend the National Prayer Breakfast, but hastened to host an Islamic prayer breakfast at the White House. ● It was you who ordered Georgetown Univ. and Notre Dame to shroud all vestiges of Jesus Christ BEFORE you would agree to go there to speak, but in contrast, you have NEVER requested that the mosques you have visited to adjust their decor. ● It was you who appointed anti-Christian fanatics and Muslim Brotherhood operatives to your Administration or Czar Corps. Naming just two of many appointments, you appointed Dalia Mogahed as your chief adviser on Islamic affairs even though she was a pro-Sharia supporter. You also appointed Arif Alikhan as assistant secretary for policy development at the Department of Homeland Security who participated in a fundraiser for the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), which, is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. ● It was you who appointed rabid Islamists to Homeland Security and allowed Muslim organizations to infiltrate the government to influence policy. ● It was you who said that NASA’s “foremost mission” was an outreach to Muslim communities. On February 16, 2010, you ordered NASA mission officials to shift from space exploration to Muslim diplomacy in an effort to give them employment. No other president has shown favouritism to a unique group of people by authorizing employment of Muslim men into NASA engineering and development positions. ● It was you who said at the 2012 Iftar annual dinner, “Muslim American clerics have spoken out against terror and extremism, reaffirming that Islam teaches that one must save human life, not take it.” Another distortion of the truth; Muslim religious leaders have not made their voices heard throughout America. ● It was you who authorized employment of Muslim men into NASA engineering and development positions. No other president has shown favouritism to a unique group of people. ● It was you who as an Illinois Senator was the ONLY individual who would speak in favor of infanticide. ● It was you who were the first President not to give a Christmas Greeting from the White House, and went so far as to hang photos of Chairman Mao on the WH tree. ● It was you who curtailed the military tribunals of all Islamic terrorists. ● It was you who refused to condemn the Fort Hood killer as an Islamic terrorist. ● It is you who has refused to speak-out concerning the horrific executions of women throughout the Muslim culture, but yet, have submitted Arizona to the UN for investigation of hypothetical human-rights abuses. ● It was you who when queried in India refused to acknowledge the true extent of radical global Jihadists, and instead profusely praised Islam in a country that is 82% Hindu and the victim of numerous Islamic terrorist assaults. ● It was you who funnelled $900 Million in U.S. taxpayer dollars to Hamas. ● It was you who provided ordered the USPS to honor the MUSLIM holiday with a new commemorative. ● It was you who ordered more than $2.8 billion to help Afghans develop their economy and deliver services that people depend upon. Such assistance could have been given to African-Americans who need better education and jobs. ● It was you who directed our UK Embassy to conduct outreach to help “empower” the British Muslim community. ● It was you who funded mandatory Arabic language and culture studies in Grammar schools across our country. ● It is you who follows the Muslim custom of not wearing any form of jewellery during Ramadan. ● It is you who departs for Hawaii over the Christmas season so as to avoid past criticism for NOT participating in seasonal WH religious events. ● It was you who was uncharacteristically quick to join the chorus of the Muslim Brotherhood to depose Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, formerly America’s strongest ally in North Africa, but remain muted in your non-response to the Brotherhood led slaughter of Egyptian Christians. ● It was you who appointed your chief adviser, Valerie Jarrett, an Iranian, who is a member of the Muslim Sisterhood, an off-shoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. ● It was you who said this country is not a Christian nation. ● It was you who said at your first inauguration in January of 2009, “I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect.” ● It was you who at several of your White House annual Iftar meetings who praised Muslims for contributing to the fabric of American communities and our country. A distortion of the truth since the first wave of Muslims immigrated into the United States between 1880 and 1924 and the second wave occurred in 1952. ● It was you who at the 2011 annual Iftar meeting who stated another distortion, “Like so many faiths, Islam has always been part of our American family, and Muslim Americans have long contributed to the strength and character of our country, in all walks of life. This has been especially true over the past 10 years.” ● It was you who at the 2012 annual Iftar meeting that you stated several distortions to convince Americans that Muslims, “Throughout our history, Islam has contributed to the character of our country, and Muslim Americans, and their good works, have helped to build our nation — and we’ve seen the results. We’ve seen those results in generations of Muslim immigrants — farmers and factory workers, helping to lay the railroads and build our cities. Muslim innovators who helped build some of our highest skyscrapers and who helped to unlock the secrets of our universe.” Obama’s assertions of Muslim praise are fabricated lies. ● It was you in your Cairo speech that reveals your commitment to support Muslims by stating, “The enduring faith of over a billion people is so much bigger than the narrow hatred of a few. Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism – it is an important part of promoting peace.” Here again, Obama will not reveal that Islam has never promoted peace as verified by history. ● It was you who desires to transform America to accept Muslims by stating, “So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”
● It was you who on September 25, 2012 at the UN General Assembly announced, “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.” This international threat to those that slander the prophet Muhammad is to be expected from a Muslim leader NOT the President of the United States.
● It was you who approved five former campaign operatives to Israel to defeat Prime Minister Netanyahu’s bid for re-election. Your initiative was to weaken Israel’s support of a strong, able, and determined leader to preserve the security of Israel. ● It was you who traded terrorists; 5 senior Taliban commanders from Guantanamo Bay prison for Bowe Bergdahl, a deserter of the U.S. Army. This will increase the risk of loss of American lives. ● It was you who lied to the American people before and after the Benghazi terrorist attack prior to the November 2012 presidential election by stating you created a normalized foreign policy in Africa. To support this lie, you tried to minimize American military involvement during the attack in Benghazi, Libya by issuing a Stand Down Order and blame the attack on a YouTube video. ● It was you who facilitated and approved the Obama-Iran Nuclear Treaty and ignored Iranian Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi declaration that “Erasing Israel off the map is nonnegotiable.”
● It was you who approved the Obama-Iran Nuclear Treaty to give Iran $150 billion dollars that will infuse their economy and support terrorism. This treaty was approved by you even while Muslims in Iran were chanting “Death to America, Death to Israel, and Death to Britain.”
● It was you who denies being a Muslim. But you were born into a Muslim family, studied the Qur’an as a young boy, and learned to read, write and speak Arabic.The unrealistic belief by Obama that Islam preaches peace may be due to his indoctrination of the Qur’an as a young boy in Jakarta, Indonesia. As shown by his actions to support Iran and integrate Muslims in America, his early indoctrination has greatly influenced his affinity for Islam and the Muslim people.Many Islamic religious leaders interpret the Qur’an with a strict fundamentalist ideology. They indoctrinate Muslim followers to believe that Islam is “the Religion of Truth” and will “prevail over every other religion” (Qur’an 9:33). This kind of indoctrination produces a superior mindset in Muslims whereby they are motivated to induce all people to follow their beliefs. This ingrained superiority causes extremism to take root with the passages that exist in the Qur’an. Its passages incite: bigotry against Jews, Christians and other religious groups; hatred for those who worship a god other than Allah; violence and murder of those who slander the prophet Muhammad; and the death of apostates, homosexuals, or people of another faith.The book, Obama, Islam and Benghazi is provided as a free read on the Iranian website, IPC.Iran Politics Club WebsiteObama, Islam and Benghazi BookIt provides a history why Islam is the source of discontent in many countries; reveals portions of the Qur’an that incite terror and violence; describes how Muslims are indoctrinated by Islamic religious leaders with the belief that We, Our and Us is Allah; presents details of the Benghazi attack, and contains thirty-seven questions that should be addressed by the Select Committee on Benghazi. Knowledge is a wonderful gift and much of it is presented in this book.When will people around the world admit that Obama is indeed a Muslim-American? Americans need to determine if Obama has a greater allegiance towards Muslims than for Americans.Back to Politics Index Back to Nicholas Ginex Index
FOREIGN MINISTER Gabi Ashkenazi greets his Bahraini counterpart at Ben-Gurion Airport in November. (photo credit: MIRI SHIMONOVICH/FOREIGN MINISTRY)
Israel should not take a publicly oppositional approach to the Biden administration, but should always maintain a military option to counter the Iranian nuclear threat, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said on Tuesday.
Ashkenazi made the remarks at the Institute for Security Studies Annual Conference, before joining a panel with Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani and United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash.
“I wouldn’t recommend a confrontational policy in the media towards the new administration,” Ashkenazi said. “We need to be able to exhaust the options to reach a professional, real and transparent conversation in a closed room, and strive for a situation in which the Israeli concerns – central of which is to prevent Iran from reaching nuclear capabilities – are heard.”
The Abraham Accords between Israel and four Arab states “amplifies the regional voice when we talk to the new administration” about Iran, the foreign minister said, adding that he’s glad that Biden administration officials have said they will consult with Israel and other relevant countries before moving forward in talks with the Islamic Republic.
At the same time, Ashkenazi said Israel must “keep a credible military option on the table.” He brought the example of Syria’s efforts to build a nuclear reactor, which Israel bombed in 2007, after the US did not take action. spacer
“I am a member of the school of thought that Israel must rely on itself when it comes to existential threats,” he said. “We can ask friends for help, but we must have the [military] option on the table.”
Ashkenazi was IDF chief of staff when the senior political echelons – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Ehud Barak – strongly considered launching an attack on Iran. Ashkenazi and Mossad chief Meir Dagan opposed that course of action at the time.
Asked whether Israel’s new allies in the Gulf would work with Israel in that regard, Ashkenazi said “I have no doubt that our partners in the UAE and Bahrain share our concerns about Iranian nuclear designs, but it is probably too early to assume that we will all come together concerning a military option.”
DURING THE panel with his Emirati and Bahraini counterparts, Ashkenazi said that “it’s no secret we are on the same page when it comes to Iran,” and that he is “happy and optimistic” about working with Israel’s new partners in the region on the matter.
Ashkenazi highlighted the significance of the Abraham Accords with the UAE and Bahrain, saying it is different from Egypt and Jordan in that it is a “warm peace.”
“I see positive momentum and the will to advance [peace] by both the political establishment and the people,” Ashkenazi said. “I think it’s a great thing for Israel. It improves national security and brings more stability.”
Gargash and Al-Zayani also mentioned the Iranian threat during their remarks, while highlighting the greater importance of diplomatic relations and peace with Israel.
Al-Zayani said that Israel and Bahrain can cooperate on voicing their shared concerns about Tehran to the Biden administration. “[Hearing] the legitimate concerns of regional states is essential to achieving lasting security and stability in the Middle East,” he said.
“If we can make clear that these are not the concerns of individual nations, but are deep and widespread across the region – and we can do so with a clear and consistent position – we will have much more impact in conveying the region’s views to our American allies.”
Gargash said the UAE’s priorities are “diplomacy and de-escalation,” and that “any rational approach must take into account Iran’s ballistic missiles and support for instability in many Arab countries.”
The UAE “has a desire to see solutions through diplomatic engagement,” Gargash said. “In this context the UAE will continue to work hard to consolidate its agenda of tolerance as a counterweight to messages of extremism.”
Gargash also said that in the view of the UAE, “more robust American engagement and leadership [in the Middle East] is most welcome.”
Al-Zayani said he is optimistic that as the Abraham Accords’ benefits become clear, more countries will normalize ties with Israel.
“Momentum for genuine cooperation would spread across the Middle East, bringing peace, security and prosperity for its people,” he said.
Members of the Biden administration have “more than sufficient experience” to understand that the trend of the Abraham Accords – “the prospect of better relations among states of the Middle East – is in the American interest” Al-Zayani said.
Both Gulf state foreign ministers expressed hope that the Abraham Accords will lead to progress in solving the Israel-Palestinian conflict, based on a two-state solution.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that “Tehran’s irresponsible behavior in recent weeks shows how important it is to stop Iran from ever obtaining nuclear weapons.”
Maas argued that the best way to do that is to return to the 2015 Iran deal, which he said “allows the greatest transparency.”
IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said attack plans should be “on the table” given Iran’s recent violations of the nuclear accord.
Israel Defense Forces chief Aviv Kochavi makes a statement on Nov. 12, 2019, in Tel Aviv, Israel. Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images.
Al-Monitor Staff Jan 27, 2021
Israel’s top military commander said Iran’s recent nuclear activity has prompted Israel to redraw its attack plans against the country, adding that military action needs to “be on the table.”
Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, warned Tuesday that Iran may be “only weeks” away from developing a nuclear bomb. Tehran, which since 2018 has repeatedly violated its obligations under the nuclear accord, announced in December that it had resumed 20% uranium enrichment at the underground Fordow facility. Earlier this month, Iran said it had begun developing uranium metal, a fuel used in nuclear reactors that can also be used to manufacture a nuclear warhead.
Tensions between bitter foes Iran and Israel have run high since the suspected assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a top Iranian nuclear scientist, in November. In retaliation, Iran’s parliament passed legislation mandating increased uranium enrichment and limiting UN inspector access if sanctions are not lifted by next month.
“In light of this fundamental analysis, I have instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare a number of operational plans, in addition to those already in place,” Kochavi said in an address to Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies. “It will be up to the political leadership, of course, to decide on implementation, but these plans need to be on the table.”
The general’s comments come as the new US administration works to rejoin the landmark nuclear agreement that former President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018. If Iran returns to compliance under the deal, President Joe Biden has pledged to reenter the multilateral pact as a starting point for follow-on negotiations to “tighten and lengthen Iran’s nuclear constraints” and address Iran’s missile program.
Israel’s leaders long opposed the deal, which they say has brought the region closer to nuclear war. Even a revised, strengthened agreement, Kochavi warned, “is bad operationally and it is bad strategically.”
“Strategically, it would presumably lead to the regional nuclearization of the Middle East,” he said. “For that reason, anything resembling the current agreement is bad and must not be permitted.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during his confirmation hearing last week that it was “vitally important” for the new administration to consult with Israel as well as Gulf allies ahead of revived diplomacy with Iran.
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President Hassan Rouhani and other dignitaries attend the inauguration of Fateh, “Conqueror” in Persian, Iranian made semi-heavy submarine in the southern port of Bandar Abbas, Iran, in February. The Fateh has subsurface-to-surface missiles with a range of about 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), capable of reaching Israel and U.S. military bases in the region. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
A general in Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps made the provocative statement less than a week into Joe Biden’s presidency. The new US president has said he wants to talk with Iran.
A handout picture provided by the Iranian army official website on Sept. 10, 2020, shows Iranian boats during a military exercise in the Gulf, near the strategic strait of Hormuz in southern Iran. The Iranian navy began a three-day exercise in the Sea of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, deploying an array of warships, drones and missiles. Photo by Iranian Army office/AFP via Getty Images.
An Iranian commander has said that the Islamic Republic has the ability to sink US warships. The comments indicate a continuation of hostile rhetoric toward the United States now that Joe Biden is president.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Gen. Rahim Noei-Aghdam said the military has the capability to destroy US Navy ships that are close to Iranian territory.
“If once the US presence in the international waters near Iran was considered as a threat to the country, today thanks to our deterrent power and surface-to-surface, surface-to-air, surface-to-coast, coast-to-coast, coast-to-sea and sea-to-sea missiles, we have the ability to destroy American ships,” said Noei-Aghdam, according to the state-run Mehr News Agency.
Comments like this from Noei-Aghdam, who commands the IRGC’s Hazrat Zeinab Military Base, are common among Iranian military leaders. The Iranian military also regularly conducts military drills in the Persian Gulf, including some that are designed to simulate a war with the United States. Last week, on former President Donald Trump’s last day in office, the Iranian army conducted a ground forces exercise in the Gulf of Oman.
The general’s remarks are significant because of their timing. US President Joe Biden, who took office last week, has repeatedly said he wants to engage Iran diplomatically and re-enter the Iran nuclear deal. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has also voiced a willingness to re-enter the agreement, which removed sanctions on Tehran in exchange for compliance with its nuclear program. The Iranian military is still saying it has the ability to fight the United States in a war, despite these diplomatic overtures, however.
Iranian warship [PH1 Alex Hicks/Wikipedia] January 26, 2021 at 3:47 pm
A senior officer in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed that it has the ability to sink any US warships which stray too close to its coastline. The general’s comment sets a hostile tone at the beginning of US President Joe Biden’s administration.
“If the US presence in the international waters near Iran is considered to be a threat to the country, thanks to our deterrent power and surface-to-surface, surface-to-air, surface-to-coast, coast-to-coast, coast-to-sea and sea-to-sea missiles, we have the ability to destroy American ships, ” General Rahim Noei-Aghdam told the state-backed Mehr News Agency yesterday.
“In contrast to the American forces in West Asia, which are unable to act, the intelligence, mobility, fighting, power, strength, cohesion, unity and morale of the forces of the Resistance Front, especially the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, are well known.”
Although such threats and rhetoric are regularly voiced by Iranian political and military leaders, the warning given by Noei-Aghdam comes less than a week after Biden’s inauguration, at a time when many are still speculating about what his administration’s policies are going to be towards Iran.
Throughout his election campaign, Biden expressed plans to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed in 2015 by Iran and the US, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia. That deal, in which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear capabilities, was abandoned by the US in 2018 when President Donald Trump withdrew from it unilaterally.
According to recent reports, Biden is set to meet with the head of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad next month in order to draw up conditions for America’s return to the JCPOA. While Iran itself has expressed its willingness to revive the agreement, despite continuing to advance its nuclear capabilities, it has stated that there will be no changes to the previous terms, and that the US does not have an infinite amount of time to decide what it is going to do.
Ambassador Eytan Na’eh arrived yesterday to Abu Dhabi, officially opening Israel’s first embassy to the United Arab Emirates.
Israeli tourists, mask-clad due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, visit al-Fahidi historical neighborhood in Dubai on Jan. 11, 2021. Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images.
Four months after the signing of the Abraham Accords at the White House, Israel opened its embassy yesterday in the United Arab Emirates. The embassy will be located in a provisory office until the Foreign Ministry decides on a permanent location.
Israel’s former ambassador to Turkey, Eitan Na’eh, will serve as charge d’affaires in Abu Dhabi until a permanent ambassador is appointed.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Foreign Ministry said the new embassy “will advance the range of relations between the countries in all areas and expand ties with the Emirati government, economic bodies and the private sector, academia, media and more.”
Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi wished Na’eh the best of luck in his new mission. He said the ministry is leading the implementation of the peace and normalization agreements in the Gulf. “Opening the mission will allow the expansion of bilateral ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates for the maximum and speedy realization of the potential in those relations,” said Ashkenazi.
Na’eh himself arrived in Abu Dhabi yesterday morning. Embarking on the plane at Ben Gurion Airport, Na’eh tweeted, “Home and away — with my hometown name [Kiryat Bialik] on the El Al plane that brought us to the Emirates. Saying ‘Excited to be here’ will be an understatement.”
Relations between Israel and the Emirates have advanced rapidly. Former President Donald Trump first announced normalization between Israel and the Emirates and Bahrain in mid-August. As aforementioned, the formal agreements were signed a month later. On Oct. 20, a senior Emirati ministerial delegation arrived in Israel, with the two countries signing a series of agreements at Ben Gurion Airport. These included an aviation agreement for 28 direct flights between Tel Aviv, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and an agreement for visa exemption. On that occasion, the Emirati delegation presented Ashkenazi with a formal request to open an embassy in Israel.
A few days after, a large Israeli economic and trade delegation arrived in the Emirates. In parallel, Israeli authorities approved the trading of the Emirati dirham in Israel. The Emiratis on their side authorized bilateral agriculture trade. The visa exemption agreement was ratified by the Emirati parliament on Jan. 13. Its implementation has been delayed until July due to the coronavirus pandemic. But even without the agreement, tens of thousands of Israelis have already visited Dubai, taking advantage of the short, direct flights. Several Dubai hotels and restaurants now also offer kosher food. More so, some Israelis chose in the past two months to hold their weddings in the Emirates, where gatherings are still allowed. Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Yosef visited Abu Dhabi and Dubai on Dec. 20 in the first-ever visit by a sitting chief rabbi to an Arab country.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to visit the Emirates and Bahrain in mid-February, and he will participate in the opening ceremony of the embassy in Abu Dhabi. Once Netanyahu makes his visit, other Israeli ministers could also plan official visits to both countries.
In the same spirit of advancing ties with Arab countries, the Israeli Cabinet officially approved yesterday the normalization of relations with Morocco.
Three rockets hit Baghdad International Airport murdering five members of Iraqi paramilitary bands and also two”guests”, Iraqi paramilitary groups said on Friday.
The Katyusha rockets landed close to the air freight terminal, burning two vehicles, killing and injuring many men and women.
Iraqi paramilitary bands said five of the associates and also two”guests” were killed in the airstrike in their vehicles within Baghdad International Airport, militia sources reported early Friday.
The militia members were hosting”significant guests” in Baghdad airport who were being driven in just two militia vehicles which were struck by two rockets, ” said the militia sources.
2 militia sources said that the two guests were murdered in the attack but failed to identify them.
Authorities and wellness sources stated that five people were killed and nine injured.
Shi’ite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) stated in a post on Facebook that the manager of public relations had been murdered in what it described as”cowardly U.S. bombing.”
Tension between the USA and Iran has awakened in the area over U.S. economic sanctions damaging the European market. Both sides have traded blame on attacks on oil installations, militia arms depots in addition to military bases hosting U.S. forces.
FILE – In this Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021, file photo, people and security forces gather at the site of a deadly bomb attack in a market selling used clothes, in Baghdad, Iraq. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a rare suicide attack that rocked central Baghdad, killing 32 people and wounding dozens. In a statement late Thursday, the group said the bombing “targeted apostate Shiites.” (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)
BAGHDAD (AP) — The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a rare suicide attack that rocked central Baghdad, killing 32 people and wounding dozens.
2 of 2 FILE – In this Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021, file photo, security forces work at the site of a deadly bomb attack in a market selling used clothes, in Baghdad, Iraq. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a rare suicide attack that rocked central Baghdad, killing 32 people and wounding dozens. In a statement late Thursday, the group said the bombing “targeted apostate Shiites.” (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)
The bombing targeted “apostate Shiites,” the group said in a statement on an IS-affiliated website late Thursday.
At least 32 people were killed and over 100 people wounded in the blasts on Thursday. Some were in severe condition. According to officials, the first suicide bomber cried out loudly that he was ill in the middle of the bustling market, prompting a crowd to gather around him — and that’s when he detonated his explosive belt. The second detonated shortly after.
The U.S.-led coalition recently ceased combat activities and is gradually drawing down its troop presence in Iraq, sparking fears of an IS resurgence. The group has rarely been able to penetrate the capital since being dislodged by Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led coalition in 2017.
The attack was the first in nearly three years to hit the capital. Elsewhere, in northern Iraq and the western desert, attacks continue and almost exclusively target Iraqi security forces.
An increase in attacks was seen last summer as militants took advantage of the government’s focus on tackling the coronavirus pandemic and exploited security gaps across disputed territory in northern Iraq.
Meanwhile, conservative politicians claim Covid vaccines produced by US and UK sterilise Iranian men, as health workers leave Iran due to low salaries and bad working conditions
Former US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump watch a B-52 bomber flyover during the 2020 Independence Day on the South Lawn of the White House (AFP)
By MEE correspondent Published date: 21 January 2021 13:50 UTC | Last update:6 days 12 hours ago
Iran threatens to hit US bombers and warships
At the peak of heated tensions between the former US president Donald Trump and Iranian authorities, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said that US B-52 bombers were easy targets for Iranian forces to hit, a new documentary has revealed.
Since November, the US Air Force has deployed the nuclear-capable bombers five times over the Middle East, and in response, Iran has launched drills unveiling new underground ballistic missile bases and suicide drones.
On Friday, Iran’s state TV aired a short documentary showing inside an IRGC radar facility used to spot planes and drones flying over the Persian Gulf, in an undisclosed location.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps official website via SEPAH News on 16 January 2021, shows a launch of a missile during a military drill in an unknown location (AFP)
In the documentary, Hajizadeh asked the radar operators about the type of two drones shown on a monitor flying close to Iranian territorial waters. An IRGC officer responded that they were US MQ-9 and RQ-4 drones, and Haizadeh said “the same as the one that we downed”.
In June 2019, IRGC shot down a US RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drone over Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan, which borders with the critical Strait of Hormuz.
“Targeting B-52 bombers is much easier than RQ-4s,” Hajizaeh said. “B-52s are old planes and the only reason for their recent deployment is because the US is scared and worried about what we might do.”
‘B-52s are old planes and the only reason for their recent deployment is because the US is scared and worried about what we might do’
– Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh
In another part of the documentary, Hajizadeh explained the details of Iran’s missile attack on Ain Al-Assad, a US military base in Iraq, in response to the assassination of the IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani by the US in January 2020.
In hitherto unseen footage, Hajizadeh is seen in camouflage uniform along with four unidentified persons in plain clothes in what appears to be the operations room for the mission to attack the US base in northern Iraq.
“Hit it guys, hit it and let’s see … in the name of God,” Hajizadeh orders over the phone.
“We shoot the missiles one by one to give a chance to them to escape, we don’t want to do a crime … but look how criminal is the evil Trump … they hit the two cars [carrying Soleimani and members of Iraqi militias] exactly at the same moment,” Haizadeh says in the video recorded inside the operation room.
Hajizadeh also explained to Iran’s state TV that 30 minutes before the operation, Iran had informed the Iraqi prime minister that one of the US bases in Iraq would be hit.
“We didn’t tell them which military base was our target, but to pay respect to Iraqis we told them that we would carry out an operation on their territory,” Hajizadeh added.
Meanwhile, on 15 January the IRGC test-fired its medium-range ballistic missiles into the Indian Ocean in a military exercise. According to US military sources one of the missiles landed within 100 miles of the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group.
“One of our main defensive strategies is to improve our capability to hit the enemy naval fleets – including aircraft carriers and warships – with our ballistic missiles,” chief IRGC commander Hossein Salami was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency.
Conservatives claim US and UK vaccines sterilise Iranians
Following Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s order banning the import of Covid-19 vaccines from the US and the UK, conservative politicians and lawmakers have been competing to promote baseless theories about the vaccines in a show of loyalty to Khamenei.
Iranian lawmaker Ali Asghar Annabestani, in a speech to the parliament claimed that the vaccines produced in the US and the UK would sterilise Iranian men and cause cancer.
Local media have also quoted Hossein Qanaani, a conservative politician, as saying that the vaccines produces in the US and the UK contain integrated circuits (IC) and devices linked to Global Positioning System (GPS) to receive date from inside Iran.
In response to these claims, the pro-reformist Arman daily, under the headline “Who believes your words?” condemned the politicians who spread conspiracy theories about the coronavirus vaccines.
“These comments, instead of explaining Iran’s coronavirus vaccination strategy, shows that the politicians make baseless claims just to give compliments to others,” the daily wrote.
Healthcare workers leaving country
The number of Iranian nurses and doctors migrating to other countries has risen to an alarming rate since the beginning of the pandemic, health officials in Tehran warned.
In recent years, Iranian healthcare workers and experts graduated from public universities, have been the largest number of skilled workers to leave the country due to Iran’s ailing economy.
Iran and China sanction outgoing Trump administration officials
Physician brain drain has sharply increased in Iran with the spread of coronavirus and the rich countries’ need for health experts to tackle the increasing death toll in Europe, the Gulf and other wealthier countries.
The Shargh daily reported that over 3,000 physicians had migrated from Iran since last April, while nurse migration rates had increased by 300 percent since the beginning of the pandemic.
The daily did not report the exact number of nurses who had left Iran.
Canada, Australia and the Gulf countries are the main destination for Iranian health experts who seek higher salaries and better working conditions.
According to Shargh, 200 physicians have died of coronavirus in Iran and over 60,000 nurses have contracted Covid-19.
This photo released Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, by the Iranian Army, shows a military drill. (Iranian Army via AP)
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s military kicked off a ground forces drill on Tuesday along the coast of the Gulf of Oman, state TV reported, the latest in a series of snap exercises that the country is holding amid escalating tensions over its nuclear program and Washington’s pressure campaign against Tehran.
According to the report, commando units and airborne infantry were participating in the annual exercise, along with fighter jets, helicopters and military transport aircraft. Iran’s National Army chief Abdolrahim Mousavi was overseeing the drill.
Iran has recently stepped up military drills as part of an effort to pressure President-elect Joe Biden over the nuclear deal that President Donald Trump pulled out of. Biden has said the U.S. could rejoin the multinational accord meant to contain Iran’s nuclear program.
A U.S. B-52 conducted a presence patrol in the Middle East on Sunday, a day after Iran held a drill in the Indian Ocean.
The Associated Press
Later on Tuesday, state TV aired footage of paratroopers, armored vehicles and a multiple launch rocket system fired during the drill.
“The general goal of this drill is to assess the offensive and penetrative power of the ground forces against the enemy from air, ground and sea,” said Kiomars Heidari, chief of ground forces.
This photo released Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, by the Iranian Army, shows a missile being fired during a military drill. Iran’s military kicked off a ground forces drill on Tuesday along the coast of the Gulf of Oman, state TV reported, the latest in a series of snap exercises that the country is holding amid escalating tensions over its nuclear program and Washington’s pressure campaign against Tehran. (Iranian Army via AP)
On Saturday, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard conducted a drill, launching anti-warship ballistic missiles at a simulated target at a distance of some 1,800 kilometers (1,120 miles) in the Indian Ocean, a day after the Guard’s aerospace division launched surface-to-surface ballistic missiles and drones against “hypothetical enemy bases” in the country’s vast central desert.
A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. is the “main source of tension” in the region. The Associated Press
Last Thursday, Iran’s navy fired cruise missiles as part of a naval drill in the Gulf of Oman, under surveillance of what appeared to be a U.S. nuclear submarine. Earlier last week, the Guard’s affiliated forces carried out a limited maneuver in the Persian Gulf after a massive, drones-only drill across half of the country earlier in January.
In this photo released Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, by the Iranian Army, troops participate in a military drill. (Iranian Army via AP)
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have increased amid a series of incidents stemming from Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers. In the final days of the Trump administration, Tehran seized a South Korean oil tanker and begun enriching uranium closer to weapons-grade levels, while the U.S. sent B-52 bombers, the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and a nuclear submarine into the region.
How would Iran’s military fare in an armed conflict with the U.S.? In this Feb, 11, 2019, file photo, Iranian Revolutionary Guard members arrive for a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi, or Freedom, Square, in Tehran, Iran. (Vahid Salemi/AP)
Revolutionary Guard Corps – Coat of Arms
Revolutionary-guard Commander Green Baret’
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Pâsdârân-e Enghelâb (پاسداران انقلاب) (Guardians of the Revolution), or simply Pâsdârân (پاسداران) (Guardians)
sepahnews.com The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, founded after the Iranian Revolution on 22 April 1979 by order of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Whereas the Iranian Army defends Iranian borders and maintains internal order, according to the Iranian constitution, the Revolutionary Guard is intended to protect the country’s Islamic republic political system. Wikipedia
Motto:وَأَعِدُّوا لَهُمْ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ قُوَّةٍ 8:60, “Prepare against them whatever you are able of power.” (heraldic slogan)
Founded:February 28, 1979 (founded), 22 April 1979 (established)
Service branches:Joint Staff, Ground Forces, Basij, Quds Force, Aerospace Force, Navy
Military Times interviewed more than a dozen military experts, including current and former U.S. military officials, about how a conflict might begin and how it could play out. This is what they said could happen:
Todd South, Kyle Rempfer, Shawn Snow, Howard Altman, David B. Larter
Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from Iran’s nuclear deal, in which Tehran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Trump cited Iran’s ballistic missile program among other issues in withdrawing from the accord.
When the U.S. then stepped up economic sanctions, Iran gradually abandoned the limits that the deal had imposed on its nuclear development.
Elad Benari , Jan 18 , 2021 5:23 AM | updated: 6:48 AM
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Rockets from Gaza / Nati Shohat/Flash90
Two rockets were fired early Monday morning from the northern Gaza Strip into the sea in the Ashdod area, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit reported.
No siren was activated. There were no reports of physical injuries or damages.
The IDF said in a statement that “two launches were identified from the northern Gaza Strip towards the coastal area in the Ashdod region which did not trigger a siren.”
In response to the rocket fire, IDF fighter jets attacked Hamas’ tunnel-digging infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.
“The IDF takes all terrorist activity against Israel very seriously and is prepared and ready to act as resolutely as necessary against attempts to harm Israeli citizens and their sovereignty. The Hamas terrorist organization bears responsibility for what is happening in and out of the Gaza Strip, and it will bear the consequences of the terrorist acts against the citizens of Israel,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.
Three weeks ago, terrorists in Gaza fired a rocket toward Israel that did not cross into Israeli territory.
As a result of the launch, a Red Color siren was heard in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom which is located on the Gaza border.
Several days earlier, Gaza terrorists fired two rockets toward the city of Ashkelon which were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system.
In response, IDF aircraft and fighter jets attacked targets belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
IRAN has put on a dramatic display of its naval strength using cruise missiles and torpedoes to blow up ships in drills aimed at warning off “encroaching enemies”.
Large explosions at sea feature in the Iranian navy’s latest footage as missiles launch from land units and military ships.
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Cruise missiles blast off from Iranian navy ships in military drills on January 13 and 14Credit: EPA
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The Iranian missiles blew up targets in the Gulf of OmanCredit: Presstv
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Deputy navy commander Admiral Hamzeh-Ali Kaviani gave a warning to ‘enemies’ / Credit: Iranian Navy
The cruise missiles can be seen blasting into the air, before arching down to their targets.
Billowing plumes of smoke blast into the sky above the sea as the hit ships are blown to pieces.
Iran fired the cruise missiles and torpedoes on Thursday as part of a naval drill in the Gulf of Oman, Press TV reported, amid heightened tensions with the US.
The country has been flexing its naval muscles this week, showcasing a pair of new warships during the two-day exercise, codenamed Naval Strength 99.
Deputy Navy Commander for Coordination Rear Admiral Hamzeh-Ali Kaviani warned Iran had a very high capability in the field of cruise missiles.
“Enemies will be targeted with cruise missiles” – Admiral Hamzeh-Ali Kaviani Iran Deputy Navy Commander
“The enemies should know that in the event of any violation and encroachment on the maritime borders of the Islamic Republic of Iran, they will be targeted with cruise missiles from the coast and the sea,” Admiral Kaviani warned.
“The high impact power of cruise missiles with various ranges available to the Navy has made them effective weaponry in naval battles,” he added.
Although full information about all the weapons used in the exercise was classified, said Admiral Kaviani, he revealed the domestically-made Conqueror submarine fired torpedoes that struck their targets for the first time.
Drones, he added, were also used on reconnaissance and combat missions during the exercise.
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Iran has warned its cruise missiles are “effective weaponry in naval battles”Credit: EPA
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Video footage shows missiles and torpedoes blasting into the Gulf of OmanCredit: Presstv
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Missiles fired from the land and from ships at sea blew their targets to bitsCredit: Presstv
The drill comes on the fifth anniversary of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard seizing two US boats and detaining ten sailors in the Persian Gulf.
Last week Iran seized a South Korean oil tanker and its crew en route to the UAE through the Persian Gulf – allegedly for breaking pollution laws.
Experts say the regime is holding the vessel as leverage as it negotiates for the release of billions in assets frozen by South Korean banks under US sanctions.
In recent weeks, Iran has increased its military drills.
Iran held a massive combat drone manoeuvre on January 5, with armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Baqeri warning the “fingers of our heroic armed forces are on the trigger”.
Dealing with the growing threat from Tehran will be one of the key issues facing Joe Biden when he enters the White House next week.
President Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.
Since then the US has ramped up sanctions, and Iran has abandoned limits on uranium enrichment.
Its development of nuclear facilities and ballistic missiles has pushed the two countries to the brink of war.
Type, class: Ballistic Missile Submarine, nuclear propulsion – SSBN; Ohio class
converted and reclassified to Guided Missile Submarine – SSGN Ships Motto: FURTIM, INCURSO, MUTATIO (stealth, attack, change) Technical Data: see: INFO > Ohio class Basllistic Missile Submarine – SSBN
A video has emerged that reportedly shows an Iranian Navy Sea King helicopter flying over what looks to be a U.S. Navy Ohio class guided-missile submarine sailing a periscope depth somewhere in the North Arabian Sea This very likely the USS Georgia, which made an unusually public transit into the Persian Gulf, sending a clear signal to Iran, last month. The Iranian Navy claims that the American submarine was operating close to where it has been conducting a major exercise this week and that it left after being detected. It’s extremely rare to see U.S. Navy submarines sailing so close to the surface like this anywhere in the world, let alone in any sort of proximity to potential hostile forces.
Iran’s Navy says that the encounter took place today and that the submarine looked to be heading toward the area where it has been holding its Eqtedar exercise at the time. This two-day drill, the name of which means power in Farsi, started yesterday, Jan. 13, 2021, and has reportedly involved a significant display of the country’s naval capabilities, including the first-ever instance of its lone Fateh class submarine firing a torpedo. The Iranian Navy’s new sea base-type ship, the Markran, which was only formally commissioned earlier this week and that you can read about more in this War Zone piece, as well as a recently delivered Sina class missile-armed fast attack craft are also taking part.
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A foreign submarine, apparently #American, intended to approach the Iranian Navy drill zone, but it was spotted and warned to leave the area. The war game zone of Iranian Navy covers the Makran coasts in southeast #Iran and the northern areas of the Indian Ocean.
DARYA PRESS CAPTURE / A screengrab from a video reportedly taken from an Iranian Navy helicopter fly over the North Arabian Sea that appears to show an Ohio class guided-missile submarine at periscope depth.
The Iranian Navy did not identify the American submarine, but the video that subsequently appeared online shows a submarine matching the size and shape of an Ohio class boat. A dry deck shelter, used to deploy special operations forces, as well as the mini-submarines they can use to transit longer distances to their objectives and other over-sized payloads, is visible mounted on the hull behind the sail. This is a feature found on the four Ohios that were converted into guided-missile submarines, or SSGNs, including USS Georgia, though a number of Virginia class submarines are also fitted with them. The Ohio class SSGNs multi-mission boats, which you can read about in more detail in this past War Zone feature, are among the most capable and in-demand submarines in the U.S. Navy today.
The video also shows the crew of the Iranian Navy Sea King attempting to contact the submarine and warning it not to enter the exercise area. The boat reportedly left the area afterward, with some Iranian outlets implying that it was forced to leave after being detected.
When asked for a statement in response to the Iranian claims, as well as the video, U.S. Naval Forces Central, which oversees U.S. naval operations in and around the Middle East, to include the North Arabian Sea, told The War Zone that, as a general rule, it does not discuss submarine operations. This is, of course, in contrast to the USS Georgia‘s transit through the strategic Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf last in December 2020, which the U.S. Navy actively highlighted, including releasing the video seen below. The new Iranian video would indicate that the boat left the Persian Gulf with no such fanfare.
Regardless, it would not be at all surprising that USS Georgia would be keeping an eye on the Eqtedar drill. The primary focus when talking about the Ohio class SSGNs is often on their ability to carry up to 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles and special operations forces units. However, they typically only have around 100 Tomahawks – still a significant loadout – onboard at any one time and empty missile tubes, as well as other spaces within the hull, are filled with other highly specialized equipment, including various unmanned platforms and the necessary systems to launch them while underwater. The boats are otherwise outfitted to operate as discreet underwater intelligence fusion nodes and command centers. This all makes them some of the best intelligence-gathering platforms available to the U.S. Navy.
Based on Iranian news reports, the exercise presents a potential intelligence bonanza, including a chance to collect information about the country’s Fateh class submarine and its capabilities, as highlighted by this being the first instance it is known to have successfully fired a torpedo. This Iranian submarine officially entered service last year and is the largest boat that the country has at present. Iran has also said that it will eventually be capable of firing submarine-launched anti-ship missiles.
There would no doubt be a general desire to get any additional details about the Markran, which is the second sea base-type ship to enter Iranian service in the past three months, as well. The Eqtedar exercise has also involved the employment of an array of existing surface and shore-launched anti-ship missiles and unmanned aircraft, as well as various other Iranian Navy warships, additional information about which would still have clear intelligence value.
The entire exercise area would have been full of electronic emissions, from radars, communications systems, and more that would also be of interest to U.S. intelligence analysts. Any intercepted communications chatter might provide new insights into Iranian tactics, techniques, and procedures, too.
No matter what, the exercise also comes at a time where there continues to be significant concerns within the U.S. government that Iran might be planning to attack U.S. interests, either directly or via proxies, in the region or elsewhere. The first anniversary of the U.S. military’s killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq in January 2020 came and went without incident, but Iranian officials made pointed threats toward the United States, including ones aimed at President Donald Trump, specifically.
In response, Trump directed the Pentagon to send the supercarrier USS Nimitz and its associated strike group, which had been on their way home, back to the Middle East as a deterrent. USS Georgia‘s very presence in the region, together with numerous long-range sorties by U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers, were also seen as sending similar messages to the regime in Tehran ahead of the anniversary of Soleimani’s death.
There have been reports that the U.S. intelligence community has seen notable upticks in Iranian military activity, but it has remained unclear if that might be in preparation for an attack, or U.S. relational to one, or if it a response to threats from the United States, real or perceived. Sending Georgia to discreetly observe this major Iranian naval exercise could help provide additional context for any future assessments about the posture of Iran’s military forces.
It’s also worth remembering that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized a South Korean-flagged tanker earlier this month. This prompted the South Korean military to increase its activities in and around the Strait of Hormuz and otherwise increasing tensions in the region.
Georgia‘s appearance near the exercise, close to the surface and during the day, put it in a very vulnerable position and one where it was very likely from the beginning that it would be detected visually by Iranian forces operating in the area. This would have had to have been a deliberate decision on the part of the boat’s commanding officer. This raises the question of whether this was itself another signal to Iran, which could add another facet to the geopolitical friction between Washington and Tehran at the moment.
There have been reports that President Trump might be considering some kind of military action against Iran, including on facilities related to its controversial nuclear program. Iranian authorities recently announced that they had begun enriching uranium to levels prohibited under an international agreement, which the U.S. government had been party to, but withdrew from in 2018. This could potentially put Iran closer to being able to build a nuclear weapon, should it decide to do so.
All told, the brief cat-and-mouse game between the Iranian Navy and its American counterpart today in the North Arabian Sea underscores how close the two are operating to each other and the bold activities the U.S. Navy is asking of its usually invisible submarine forces in the region.
The Shahab-3 missile, seen here during Iran’s 2012 “Great Prophet” military exercise. The Shahab-3 is a medium-range ballistic missile capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Photo: Hossein Velayati via Wikimedia Commons.
Iran’s military launched a short-range naval missile drill on Wednesday, Iranian state TV reported, at a time of high tension between arch foes Tehran and Washington.
Iran has one of the biggest missile programs in the Middle East, regarding such weapons as an important deterrent and retaliatory force against US and other adversaries in the event of war.
The Iranian-made warship Makran, which state media described as Iran’s biggest warship with a helicopter pad, and a missile-launching ship called Zereh (armor) were taking part in the two-day exercise in the Gulf of Oman.
Tensions between the United States and Iran have risen since 2018, when President Donald Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal. The United States restored harsh sanctions to pressure Iran into negotiating stricter curbs on its nuclear program, ballistic missile development and support for regional proxy forces.
In recent years, there have been periodic confrontations between Iran’s military and Us forces in the Gulf, where Tehran holds annual exercises to display the Islamic Republic’s military might to confront “foreign threats.”
Last week, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in Gulf waters and detained its crew amid tensions between Tehran and Seoul over Iranian funds frozen in South Korean banks due to US sanctions.
In early 2019, Iran heightened tensions in the world’s busiest oil waterway by seizing British-flagged tanker Stena Impero two weeks after a British warship had intercepted an Iranian tanker off t
After weeks of escalation and threatening language, the Defense Department is sending mixed messages as the anniversary of the death of an Iranian general nears.
The aircraft carrier Nimitz and other warships provided air cover for American troops withdrawing from Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.Credit…U.S. Navy, via Getty Images
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has abruptly sent the aircraft carrier Nimitz home from the Middle East and Africa over the objections of top military advisers, marking a reversal of a weekslong muscle-flexing strategy aimed at deterring Iran from attacking American troops and diplomats in the Persian Gulf.
Officials said on Friday that the acting defense secretary, Christopher C. Miller, had ordered the redeployment of the ship in part as a “de-escalatory” signal to Tehran to avoid stumbling into a crisis in President Trump’s waning days in office. American intelligence reports indicate that Iran and its proxies may be preparing a strike as early as this weekend to avenge the death of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Senior Pentagon officials said that Mr. Miller assessed that dispatching the Nimitz now, before the first anniversary this Sunday of General Suleimani’s death in an American drone strike in Iraq, could remove what Iranian hard-liners see as a provocation that justifies their threats against American military targets. Some analysts said the return of the Nimitz to its home port of Bremerton, Wash., was a welcome reduction in tensions between the two countries.
“If the Nimitz is departing, that could be because the Pentagon believes that the threat could subside somewhat,” said Michael P. Mulroy, the Pentagon’s former top Middle East policy official.
Areport by CBS Newsstates that Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers in New York heard a clear threat apparently directed at them via a radio frequency yesterday. A digitized voice stated the following: “We are flying a plane into the Capitol on Wednesday. Soleimani will be avenged.”
This is a clear reference to General Qassem Soleimani, the former head of Iran’s Quds Force, the external operations branch of the country’s Islamic Guard Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who was killed by the U.S. military near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq a year ago. The anniversary of Soleimani’s death, along with a litany of other issues, is driving extreme tensions between Iran and the United States at this time. The situation has prompted the United States to carry out major military posture changes in the region.
AP / JFK air traffic control tower.
CBS News states that U.S. officials don’t believe what the air traffic controllers heard was a credible threat, although it is a major breach of radio transmission protocol and they are investigating it as such. This is curious as it would seem a bit too hasty to throw it out altogether, especially considering the maelstrom of security issues that are already presenting themselves on what is set to be a nearly unprecedented day that will be marked by protest and disruption on Capitol Hill as the 2020 presidential election is set to be finalized by the legislative branch.
Audio obtained by CBS News:
“We are flying a plane into the Capitol on Wednesday. Soleimani will be avenged.” pic.twitter.com/VejCmwM1Uo
Sources told CBS News a message was sent to air traffic controllers on Tuesday reminding them that any threat or a plane deviating from its flight path should be reported immediately.
The FBI is not commenting but said it takes “all threats of violence to public safety seriously.” The Federal Aviation Administration said it is in contact with law enforcement.
There is also the nature of Iran’s recent threats towards the United States to consider here, one of which was especially ominous. “It’s even possible that there are people inside your home [the United States] that will respond to your crime,” Brigadier General Esmail Ghaani, the current head of the Quds Force, who assumed the position after Soleimani died, said at an event in Iran on News Year’s Day.
The reality is that the National Capital Region is the most well-defended ring of airspace in the country. Few outlets, if any, have reported as extensively on it over the years as The War Zone. This post offers a good recent primer on it and how it works. It is defended by a wing of specially-trained pilots that fly F-16C/D Viper fighter jets that are now sporting the most advanced radars the type can carry. These jets sit alert and fly regular air patrols out of Andrews Air Force Base. They are also augmented by outside fighter assets at various times depending on the threat profile and other events happening in the region. MH-65 Dolphin helicopters from the Coast Guard also stand alert at Reagan International Airport, with their job being intercepting ‘slow movers,’ such as light aircraft, and ushering them away from sensitive areas, as well as collecting intelligence on small targets, such as drones.
In addition, the National Capital Region is defended by the most advanced integrated air defense system in the United States, which fuzes together a vast array of sensor data, both military and civilian, into a common airspace picture. This allows for split-second decision-making based on the best available information, and rightfully so as those in command may only have seconds to make life and death calls.
So, it’s not as if the National Capital Region is defenseless against an aerial attack, far from it. The ashes of 9/11 changed the way these threats are handled locally in a dramatic fashion.
With all this in mind, and on a day when Iran specifically showed off its drone and cruise missile swarming capabilities and capacity in a grand and audacious manner, and considering they have been remarkably successful at breaching the best air defense systems available in the past with these capabilities, such a threat needs to be taken seriously.
This Soleimani revenge video inclusion of birds may be a Quran reference. A story about birds defending Mecca from an army of Elephants. Birds were called “Ababil birds” #Iran has Ababil drones which could indicate an attack with drones and BMs. pic.twitter.com/PjVoQJUdD0
If anything else, this warning, regardless of its intent, should be a stark reminder that we must prepare to counter future threats from above, not just the ones that haunt us from the past.
Published date: 4 January 2021 18:58 UTC | Last update:3 weeks 2 days ago
Iran has resumed uranium enrichment at pre-nuclear deal levels of 20 percent, the Islamic Republic announced on Monday, in the latest escalatory move in the standoff between Tehran and Washington.
The Iranian government had notified the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the increased enrichment will take place at its underground Fordow nuclear facility.
The announcement coincided with the first anniversary of the killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani by a US drone strike in Baghdad.
It comes weeks before US President Donald Trump is set to leave office amid a spike in tensions that is leading to a military build-up in the Gulf.
On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif appeared to play down the decision to increase uranium enrichment levels on the prospect of diplomacy with the incoming administration of US President-elect Joe Biden, stressing that the move is “reversible”.
“We resumed 20% enrichment, as legislated by our Parliament. IAEA has been duly notified,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.
“Our remedial action conforms fully with Para 36 of JCPOA, after years of non-compliance by several other JCPOA participants. Our measures are fully reversible upon FULL compliance by ALL.”
Biden aide urges return to deal
Weapons-grade uranium requires enrichment at 90 percent, but as part of the 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers, Tehran agreed to scale back enrichment to 3.67 percent.
In return, the pact, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), granted Iran relief from international sanctions related to its nuclear programme.
Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement in 2018, and his administration has been piling sanctions on Iranian businesses and oil and petrochemical sectors, choking the country’s economy.
Iran has been slowly loosening its commitments to the agreement, and Monday’s move is Tehran’s boldest breach of the JCPOA.
Soleimani’s assassination has taught Iranians to never trust empty western promises
After the assassination of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November, the Iranian parliament passed the law to increase uranium enrichment.
The legislation had faced opposition from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who tried to block and delay its implementation. The law also calls for expelling inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, if American sanctions against Tehran are not lifted by February.
Biden, who takes office on 20 January, has vowed to reimplement the nuclear deal if Iran returns to full compliance with the pact.
In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan slammed Trump’s approach to Iran, including the killing of Soleimani.
Sullivan reiterated that the incoming administration is looking to return to the deal but added that Washington will be seeking follow-on negotiations that would address Iran’s ballistic missile programme and include regional players.
“In that broader negotiation, we can ultimately secure limits on Iran’s ballistic missile technology, and that is what we intend to try to pursue through diplomacy,” he said.
Tensions
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has signalled a willingness to re-engage in the talks with the US to lift sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
“If the sanctions can be lifted, we should not hesitate for even an hour,” Khamenei said.
“If the sanctions can be lifted in a correct, wise, Iranian-Islamic and dignified manner, this should be done. But our main focus should be on neutralising the sanctions.”
Soleimani’s shadow: How the general’s death upended Iranian strategy in Iraq
But with Trump’s term expiring, tensions have built up around the Soleimani anniversary.
Earlier on Monday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized a South Korean vessel amid the east Asian country’s refusal to release Iranian funds in its banks because of US sanctions.
On Sunday, Acting US Defence Secretary Chris Miller halted a scheduled redeployment for an American aircraft carrier in the Gulf, ordering it to remain in the region.
“Due to the recent threats issued by Iranian leaders against President Trump and other US government officials, I have ordered the USS Nimitz to halt its routine redeployment,” Miller said in a statement.
“The USS Nimitz will now remain on station in the US Central Command area of operations. No one should doubt the resolve of the United States of America.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Iran’s push to increase uranium enrichment shows that Tehran aims to develop a nuclear weapon.
“Iran’s decision to continue violating its commitments, to raise the enrichment level & advance the industrial ability to enrich uranium underground, can’t be explained in any way except as continued realization of its intention to develop a military nuclear program,” Netanyahu’s office said on Twitter.
Iran denies pursuing a nuclear bomb, and the IAEA has said that there is “no credible evidence” that the Islamic Republic is developing nuclear technology for military use.
Iran raises maritime readiness levels as US moves its regional forces in lead-up to anniversary of Qassem Soleimani’s assassination
Iran judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi speaks on Friday at Tehran University commemoration of first anniversary of Qassem Soleimani’s assassination (AFP)By MEE staffPublished date: 1 January 2021 19:44 UTC |
Tensions between the US and Iran have escalated in recent days, with both countries manoeuvring military forces and warning the other against any sort of attack.
With just weeks left of Donald Trump’s presidency, the first anniversary of the US assassination of Iran’s top general has ramped up the rhetoric coming out of both Tehran and Washington. Iran accuses Trump of plotting ‘pretext for war’ with B-52 deployment
Iran raised the readiness levels of its maritime forces on Friday.
Whether its move in the Gulf is offensive or defensive remains unclear given recent US actions, but Iran’s Quds force commander Esmail Qaani warned Washington on Friday that retribution for the 3 January assassination of Qassem Soleimani may come from inside the US.
“By committing this crime, you created a job for all freedom-seeking people across the globe. Be sure that it is possible that some people will be found inside your home to respond to your crime,” General Qaani said during a commemoration ceremony at the University of Tehran, as quoted by the Tehran Times.
At the same event, Iran’s judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi also sent a warning to the US, saying during a speech that Soleimani’s killers will “not be safe on Earth” and that not even Trump would be “immune from justice”.
US prepares its forces
The US has been making strategic military moves as well, aimed at warding off any potential retaliatory strikes against its assets in the region in the run-up to the Soleimani anniversary.
From fortifying forces around its embassy in neighbouring Baghdad to flying long-range show-of-force warplane missions near Iranian waters, the US has stressed its manoeuvres are defensive in nature.
“We do not seek conflict, but no one should underestimate our ability to defend our forces or to act decisively in response to any attack,” General Frank McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, said in a statement following the US’s Wednesday air mission. ‘A clear deterrent’: US flies two B-52 bombers near Iranian waters
Two B-52 bombers carried out a non-stop 30-hour flight from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to the Gulf and back.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon said it had intelligence indicating possible Iranian plans to target US assets, but Iran denied the claims, accusing the US of banging war drums as a means to antagonise Iran into taking action.
Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Thursday that Washington had wasted billions of dollars on the air mission, and reiterated that while Tehran was not seeking conflict, it would defend itself.
“Instead of fighting Covid in US, @realDonaldTrump & cohorts waste billions to fly B52s & send armadas to OUR region,” Zarif tweeted.
& cohorts waste billions to fly B52s & send armadas to OUR region Intelligence from Iraq indicate plot to FABRICATE pretext for war. Iran doesn’t seek war but will OPENLY & DIRECTLY defend its people, security & vital interests.
“Iran doesn’t seek war but will OPENLY & DIRECTLY defend its people, security & vital interests.”
Zarif also celebrated Trump’s election loss in a New Years Eve message, saying: “As we end a year of anguish, let us hope for new beginnings in the coming year, ending the insane era of contempt for law and multilateralism—a four-year one that caused so much bloodshed, terror & cruelty.”
Later Thursday, Major General Hossein Dehghan, military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, addressed a tweet directly to Trump, warning him “not to turn the New Year into a mourning for Americans”.
A rift in the Pentagon?
One senior defence official who is directly involved in the intelligence discussions told CNN that there is “not a single piece of corroborating intel” suggesting an attack by Iran may be imminent.US sends dozens of armoured vehicles to Iraq ahead of Soleimani death anniversary
Critics of Trump have accused his administration of looking for a reason to begin military confrontations with Iran in the final weeks of his presidency as a way to sabotage President-elect Joe Biden’s plans to re-enter a nuclear deal with Iran.
Biden is set to take over the White House on 20 January and has made clear his intentions to re-negotiate a deal with Tehran, ending four years of Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign against the republic.
Meanwhile, in Iraq, supporters of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary group held a demonstration in Baghdad’s western Shoala neighbourhood on Friday to commemorate the assassination of Soleimani as well as the killing of Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis who was targeted in the same strike last year.
Iranian students burned US and Israeli flags, along with photos of President Trump and President-elect Joe Biden, as the Iranian establishment admitted Friday’s killing of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was a major setback.
The students, members of the paramilitary unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, demonstrated outside Iran’s foreign ministry in Tehran, The Times of Israel reported. Fakrizadeh was a senior officer in the IRGC.
The assassination was a huge blow to the Iranian defense establishment, Iranian Army commander Mohammed Bagheri admitted, Axios reported. Khamenei pledged that Fakhrizadeh’s work would continue.
Fakrizadeh was the architect of Iran’s military nuclear program and was compared with Robert Oppenheimer, who led the US Manhattan Project during World War II. Killing him is seen as a step toward increasing the pressure from the Trump administration and the Israeli government against Iran, a move that was widely criticized by US allies in Europe.
Israeli officials briefed several media outlets in Israel that without Fakhrizadeh, it will be hard for Iran to continue its nuclear program, according to Axios.
Israel placed its embassies around the world on a heightened security alert after Iran blamed Israel for the attack.
Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP
One American official and two other intelligence officials confirmed that Israel was behind the slaying, which took place in a village outside of Tehran, the New York Times reported. Fakhrizadeh was reportedly attacked by at least five gunmen after his sedan stopped following an explosion.
It was unclear how much the United States may have known about the operation in advance, the Times said, but the two nations have long shared intelligence regarding Iran, which Israel considers its greatest threat.
The killing took place days after a secret trilateral meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
Democratic presidential candidates react to strike that killed Qassem Soleimani; Peter Doocy reports.
A senior military official in Iran threatened an attack on some 35 “American targets,” including “destroyers and warships” near the Persian Gulf Friday night, promising to seek revenge for the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, according to a report.
The latest threat against the U.S. came late Friday night from senior Revolutionary Guards commander Gen. Gholamali Abuhamzeh, a day after top Iranian military general Soleimani was wiped out by an airstrike at Baghdad International Airport.
Abuhamzeh, commander of the Revolutionary Guards in the southern province of Kerman, foreshadowed a possible attack on “vital American targets” located in the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation of Soleimani’s death.
Mourners chant anti U.S. slogans during the funeral of Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
“The Strait of Hormuz is a vital point for the West and a large number of American destroyers and warships cross there,” Abuhamzeh said according to a Reuters report, citing Tasnim news agency.
“Vital American targets in the region have been identified by Iran since long time ago … some 35 U.S. targets in the region, as well as Tel Aviv, are within our reach.”
In addition to threatening the U.S. with a possible attack, Abuhamzeh’s remarks that the targets had been previously “identified by Iran” seemed to confirm the State Department’s statement regarding the motivation behind the airstrike.
His comments come after it U.S. defense officials told Fox News that more than 3,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team would be deployed to Kuwait.
Iran’s top “shadow commander,” as Soleimani was known, was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more. According to the State Department, the airstrike “was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.”
“General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region,” the department said. “The United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world.”
Mourners gathering in the streets of Baghdad Saturday for Soleimani’s funeral procession. Dressed in black military fatigues, the mostly male-dominated group carried Iraqi flags and the flags of Iran-backed militias that are fiercely loyal to Soleimani.
In this image made from a video, mourners gather for a funeral procession for Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad Saturday, Jan. 4, 2020. (PMF Media Office via AP)
They were heard chanting “No, No, America,” and “Death to America, death to Israel.”
The U.S. has since ordered all citizens to leave Iraq and closed its embassy in Baghdad, where Iran-backed militiamen and their supporters staged two days of violent protests earlier this week in which they breached the compound.
An alert brigade of roughly 4,000 paratroopers, known as the DRB – the Division Ready Brigade – had been told to pack their bags for a possible deployment in the days ahead, after hundreds of Iranian-backed militiamen tried to storm the U.S. embassy in Baghdad Tuesday.
The U.S. Army always keeps an alert brigade of roughly 4,000 paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne for a crisis response like this.
There are roughly 5,000 U.S. troops currently deployed to Iraq, and about 60,000 in the region. Some 14,000 have been added since May as the threat from Iran increased, according to the Pentagon.
The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is currently in the Gulf of Oman. Her strike group is armed with hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles, in addition to the dozens of strike aircraft aboard Truman.
In July last year, the Revolutionary Guard seized a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. Several tankers were attacked in the weeks leading up to the seizure, which the U.S. blamed routinely on Iran.
On top of that, Iran has been accused by the U.S. of launching cruise missiles and drones from its territory to bombard Saudi Arabia’s oil installations.
Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this re
As the most reliable and balanced news aggregation service on the internet, DML News offers the following information published by DailyMail:
Crowds chanted ‘Death to America, death to Israel’ as hundreds of thousands of Iranians gathered at rallies to mark the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
Ceremonies were held across Iran today to observe the anniversary of the fall of the Shah and the triumph of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shiite cleric who led the coup.
The article goes on to state the following:
Iran’s army declared its neutrality on February 11, 1979 which paved the way for the collapse of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi – and ousted the United States’ most important ally in the Middle East.
Crowds gathered in the rain in Tehran Azadi, or Freedom Square, on Monday, waving Iranian flags and chanting ‘Death to America’ – a mantra that has been standard fare at anti-US rallies across Iran.
Chants of ‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Death to Britain’ followed, and demonstrators were caught on camera burning US and Israeli flags.
With sanctions squeezing #Iran, today’s celebrations see people burning #US and #Israeli flags, in imposing such tough economic sanctions, is the #Trump administration currently targeting the wrong people? #F24Debatepic.twitter.com/iTN4RzBY4D
Iran threatens to annihilate Israel – flags of the US and Israel were burnt during protests marking Iran’s 40th-anniversary of the Islamic… https://t.co/sjcAzq2fxF
Crowds chant ‘Death to America, death to Israel’ as hundreds of thousands of Iranians mark 40th anniversary of Islamic revolution https://t.co/kGOS4BXEqd
The platform does not guarantee that Israel will remain a Jewish state. The language in the platform before 2012 made clear that there was no Palestinian right of return to Israel. Removing the explicit language that Palestinians have a right to resettle is creating another existential threat to Israel.
The platform does not guarantee that Israel will remain a Jewish state. The language in the platform before 2012 made clear that there was no Palestinian right of return to Israel. Removing the explicit language that Palestinians have a right to resettle is creating another existential threat to Israel.
Israel Defense Forces chief Aviv Kochavi makes a statement on Nov. 12, 2019, in Tel Aviv, Israel. Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images.
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A handout picture provided by the Iranian army official website on Sept. 10, 2020, shows Iranian boats during a military exercise in the Gulf, near the strategic strait of Hormuz in southern Iran. The Iranian navy began a three-day exercise in the Sea of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, deploying an array of warships, drones and missiles. Photo by Iranian Army office/AFP via Getty Images.
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Israeli tourists, mask-clad due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, visit al-Fahidi historical neighborhood in Dubai on Jan. 11, 2021. Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images.
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How would Iran’s military fare in an armed conflict with the U.S.? In this Feb, 11, 2019, file photo, Iranian Revolutionary Guard members arrive for a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi, or Freedom, Square, in Tehran, Iran. (Vahid Salemi/AP)
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How would Iran’s military fare in an armed conflict with the U.S.? In this Feb, 11, 2019, file photo, Iranian Revolutionary Guard members arrive for a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi, or Freedom, Square, in Tehran, Iran. (Vahid Salemi/AP)
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WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERSIranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP
Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh 
Iran marks 40th Anniversary of Islamic Revolution
IRAN COMMEMORATES THE 40th ANNIVERSARY OF THE REVOLUTION
