Iran

CAUTION: Splodey Mullahs Ahead

MULLAH GO BOOM

Israeli forces “flattened” a building where Iran’s 88-member Assembly of Experts had gathered to select the regime’s next supreme leader, according to Israeli officials and regional reports.

h/t DickFitzwell

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran, Israel, USA

Khamenei’s Unforced Errors Proved Fatal

Iran had failed on every front, but its supreme leader kept bluffing. He didn’t fool Trump.

This is the ayatollah’s war. Now as in June, the pileup of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s mistakes served President Trump a strategic opportunity too inviting to pass up. On Saturday, Khamenei paid with his life.

The proximate error came during negotiations, in which Iran all but announced it still wants to pursue nuclear weapons. What else was Mr. Trump supposed to conclude from Iran’s evasions?

No more domestic enrichment of uranium for nuclear fuel, the president said. This was hardly unreasonable; 23 nations operate nuclear power programs by importing enriched uranium. U.S. negotiators even offered to provide Iran the fuel free of charge, a senior administration official said Saturday. Iran balked. Despite vast oil reserves, Iran claimed to need nuclear power and its own enrichment program. For this, it would risk everything.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran, Israel, USA

Iran Attack Thread

Hezbollah TV Station Beirut

How will the war in Iran end? The scenarios explained

President Trump has threatened to send troops into Iran, raising the prospect of a full-blown regime change operation such as that which the US carried out in Iraq, and which he had previously promised to avoid.

Trump has sent conflicting messages since the start of the joint US-Israeli operation against Iran on Saturday morning, at times suggesting it could last just a few days and at others saying he is prepared to continue bombing for four or five weeks or even longer. His interview with the New York Post on Monday was the first time he had raised the possibility of “boots on the ground”.

Use this to drop any vids or stories that interest you on this momentous attack in the comments.

(more…)

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran, Israel, USA

What Iran means for Putin

Multipolarity is a disaster for Russia

As the Middle East lurches toward wider war, Vladimir Putin finds himself confronted by the terrifying reality of the world he has always demanded. For a quarter of a century, the Russian president has been demanding a “multipolar world order”, one that would overturn the hypocritical liberal consensus. Now, that order might have arrived, but the system taking shape is not creating a stronger Russia. Instead, it reveals an increasingly isolated and weakened state — one that, if the history of Putin’s rule is anything to go by, might see the Kremlin turn toward even further domestic repression and foreign confrontation.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran, Russia

Canada Right to Recognize Washington’s Just War

On the morning of Saturday, Feb. 28, we all awoke to an alarming development.

Addressing the world, the president of the United States revealed that joint military forces of the United States and Israel had begun a coordinated strike against the 47-year-old Islamic regime in Iran. In measured tones, President Trump explained that the operation had been launched in response to a clear and present danger posed by Iran’s continued nuclear ambitions and the regime’s longstanding support for terrorism against the West.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Iran, USA

Ayatollah ran $95BILLION business empire built by seizing thousands of Iranians’ properties then selling them for profit

Thief

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei left behind a corrupt and repressive legacy, following his assassination on February 28.

Before his death, he was the longest-serving ruler in the Middle East, having taken power in 1989 following the death of his mentor Ruhollah Khomeini.

His 36 years and eight months leading Iran resulted in the mass repression of women, the slaughter of civilians and the funding of terror groups including Hamas and Hezbollah.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran, WTF?

Carney picks a realpolitik side on Iran war

Mark Carney wasted no time in backing U.S. military action to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. It was a quick decision to pick a side but also to pick from a menu.

It is hard to claim that preventing Iran from getting the bomb is the cause for this war.

It’s particularly hard because U.S. President Donald Trump provided a whole menu of justifications in the eight-minute video he released Saturday – from Iran’s nuclear-weapons program to its decades of sponsorship of terror – but really made his war about regime change in Iran.

Canada has no skin in the game so it’s easy to feign support. But Carney had better hope a Canadian sleeper cell doesn’t seek vengeance stateside.

No pleasure cruise!

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Iran, USA

CBC worried some nations may actually support the Iran attack

Wary U.S. allies try to avoid getting drawn into criticizing Washington or attacking Tehran

As American and Israeli war planes finished their first attacks against Iran over the weekend, carefully worded statements from Western allies started to roll out.

Iran “must never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon,” said a spokesperson for the British government. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he shared the U.S.’s interest in ending “this regime’s terror.” French President Emmanuel Macron insisted on diplomacy.

All said they weren’t involved in military action, but carefully skirted judgment of the legality of U.S. actions. No loud applause, no condemnation. Just “whispered warnings” about what it could spark, said French newspaper Le Monde.

I bet CBC hates this…

h/t DM and Hermes

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Iran, Israel, USA, WTF?

Could Iran descend into civil war?

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a man whose life has been defined by the harshness of his rhetoric against the West (specifically, the US and Israel) and his ruthless rule, has died a martyr’s death under the rubble of his compound in Pasteur, Tehran.

It was always going to end this way. Khamenei came to prominence as a revolutionary first and then second as a wartime leader when he assumed the role of President of Iran during the Iran-Iraq war.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran

The Democrats’ Epic Fury Over Iran Strikes

They invoke the Constitution against Trump — even as history and their own record tell a different story.

It was hardly necessary to consult Nostradamus to predict that the Democrats, who profess to abhor oppressive authoritarian theocracies, would denounce President Trump’s decision to topple the government of Iran — the very definition of such a regime. Nor was it a surprise that they downplay or simply ignore the obvious elation with which the Iranians themselves greeted the long overdue demise of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It is striking, however, that the Democrats fail to see that their reflexive attacks on Trump for taking action against such a dangerous regime and indifference to the response of the Iranian people reinforces the public perception that their party is weak and out of touch.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inDemocratic Party, Iran, USA

Anita Anand dodges questions about UN secretary general’s criticism of Iran attack

Canada’s armed forces are ready for emergency pronoun deployment under battlefield conditions.

NEW DELHI — Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is refusing to say whether Canada believes the American and Israeli strikes on Iran that sparked an escalated conflict in the Middle East are consistent with international law, after her government declared support for the action to prevent the Islamic theocracy from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Speaking to reporters instead of Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday — the prime minister cancelled the only news conference of a four-day trip to India — Anand repeatedly refused to say whether she agrees with the head of the United Nations, who condemned the U.S. and Israeli attacks that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Liberal Party has made us a security risk …

h/t Auntie Polly & Canuknucklehead™

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Iran, USA

Iran Attack Sticky

Iran missile hit Doha UAE

Hegseth vows swift victory at Pentagon briefing as Iran strikes enter third day

h/t patthedog

Iran’s Top 20 Attacks On The West

Since the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979 — when Democrat President Jimmy Carter capitulated to terrorism — no one has possessed the cojones to challenge Iran’s Islamic Death Cultists. Until now.

BBC Live Feed 

Telegraph Live Feed

Guardian Live Feed

Iran International

Use this to drop any vids or stories that interest you on this momentous attack in the comments.

(more…)

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran, Israel, USA

What Most People Have Missed About US Use of Low-Cost Drones in Iran

Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) 35K each

A lot has happened in the past few days, and with so much news to digest, it’s hard to separate out the wheat, the meat, the chaff, and the offal.

The meat of this metaphor is calorie-dense information that is also mostly of immediate interest. This target was struck, that leader was killed, and this country has stepped in to join us. It’s all very important, but ultimately only relevant to how this particular conflict plays out. Once the dust settles, the overall strategic situation is the only thing that matters, not when some target or another was struck.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran, Israel, USA

I’m ‘very disappointed’ in Starmer over Iran

Donald Trump has told The Telegraph he is “very disappointed” in Sir Keir Starmer for blocking him from using Diego Garcia to carry out strikes on Iran.

In an exclusive interview, the US president said that the Prime Minister’s initial refusal to let US forces use the Chagos Islands base was unlike anything that had “happened between our countries before”.

Britain had denied the US permission to conduct strikes from bases such as Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford, citing international law. However, the Prime Minister relented on Sunday night and said he would allow the US access to Diego Garcia for “specific and limited defensive purposes”.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran, UK, USA