Iran

The eight-month plot that led to Trump’s attack on Iran

Not long ago, Donald Trump had little patience with the idea of full-scale wars with Iran.

The 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June last year, he said, could have “gone on for years and destroyed the entire Middle East”, had Mr Trump himself not bluntly told Benjamin Netanyahu it had to stop.

Eight months later, Mr Trump has ordered a full-scale bombing campaign aimed at nothing less than the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran itself. This time, he and Netanyahu seem to be working hand-in-hand on the same project.

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

A bombing 9 years in the making

What did the Orb communicate?

So let me get this straight, the United States and Israel bombed Iran today and the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are all mad at Iran because Iran fired missiles at them in retaliation.

Iran fired at them because the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Jordan host American military installations. Also, Israel’s Iron Dome protects the Holy Lands so well that Iran refused to waste ammunition.

The shift in allegiance surprises only people who paid no attention to President Trump’s diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, which enabled today’s attack.

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

A dangerous moment, but US and Israel see opportunity not to be missed

The decision by the United States and Israel to plunge into a new war with Iran creates a highly dangerous moment with unpredictable consequences. Israel used the word “pre-emptive” to justify its attack.

The evidence is that this is not a response to an imminent threat, which the word pre-emption implies. Instead, it is a war of choice.

Israel and the United States have calculated that the Islamic regime in Iran is vulnerable; dealing with a severe economic crisis, the fallout from the brutal crackdown on protesters at the start of the year and with defences still badly damaged by last summer’s war. Their conclusion seems to have been that this was an opportunity that should not be squandered.

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

Trump and Netanyahu have made a dangerous gamble in Iran. Why is Carney cheering them on?

In Iran, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have opted to play regime change roulette.

They are wagering with the lives of civilians in Iran, Israel, and the Gulf countries. They risk embroiling American and Israeli forces into yet another forever war, a military operation with no clear objectives and no way to truly win. And they do so with no clear plan, purpose, or objective.

This bet may yet pay off. These strikes could paralyze the Iranian state enough that the people may seize power from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Trump has called them to do.

The Star’s kind of crowd …

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

Why has the US attacked Iran? Trump’s ‘huge gamble’ explained

Patience with diplomacy has expired, and a major military onslaught against Iran has started. As with any strategy for victory, the military means will need to be matched to achievable ends.

It seems from the outset that President Trump is setting the most ambitious objective: toppling the Islamic regime of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Announcing the strikes on Saturday, he talked about the regime’s “unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder” against the US and its allies, as well as telling Iranians, “your hour of freedom is at hand”.

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

U.K., Germany, and France Call for Return to Negotiations After Iran Strikes

The U.S.-Israel-led strikes on Iran started overnight and are probably going to continue for some time. Both Canada and Australia have issued statements in support of the strikes, but there has been objections from others.

Germany, France, and the U.K. are calling for a restoration of negotiations following the strikes, with French President Macron saying the operation “carries grave consequences for international peace and security.”

I am surprised carney came out in support of the Iran strike.

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

US and Israel launch joint attack on Iran

The US and Israel have launched an attack on Iran.

US president Donald Trump has described ongoing “major combat operations” and called for Iranian government forces to lay down their arms.

Earlier, Israel’s Defence Minister said Israel had launched a “pre-emptive attack” against Iran, with explosions heard across the country.

Iran Live

BBC Live Feed – US and Israel launch attack on Iran, as Trump says ‘major combat operations’ under way

Telegraph Live Feed – Trump: ‘Massive and ongoing’ combat operation in Iran

Al Jazeera Live Feed – US, Israel attack Iran live: Trump announces ‘major combat operations’

Jerusalem Post Live Feed – Israel, US target Iranian leaders in strikes as missile barrages trigger sirens

Twitter-X feed Iran

Monitor The Situation – Middle East

Iran launches heavy missile barrage across Israel in retaliation for US-Israel attack

Sirens have sounded across Israel’s north and central regions on Saturday, after a rocket barrage was fired from Iran. A missile impacted in northern Israel, a Magen David Adom source told Walla, with no injuries being reported.

According to a report by Fire and Rescue, a missile’s shrapnel impacted on a 20-story building and penetrated into the 17th floor.

(more…)

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

Why Iranians Have Unified Around Reza Pahlavi

On the morning of Oct. 31, 1978, Iran’s 19-year-old crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, stood beside President Jimmy Carter in the Oval Office. Officially, he was the heir to one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East. Unofficially, the Carter administration was already preparing for his father’s possible downfall.

Thousands of miles away, Iran was unraveling. Protesters flooded the streets, chanting “Death to the Shah!” Nationwide strikes shut down factories, schools, and oil fields, threatening vital Western interests. Before the cameras, Carter projected calm and reaffirmed the U.S.–Iran alliance. Behind the scenes, the White House was quietly planning for the collapse of the Pahlavi monarchy.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran

CSIS acting to prevent possible Iranian proxy attacks on U.S. targets in Canada, former spies say

Canada’s spy service will be alert to any Iranian attempts to direct its proxies in Canada to strike U.S. targets in this country if the United States attacks Iran, according to former top spies.

Two former assistant directors of operations at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told The Globe and Mail Wednesday that Canada and other Western countries’ intelligence services have been working in concert to prevent Iranian attacks in Europe and North America.

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

Iran ‘ready to spill American blood — even at a huge cost’

From his secret bunker last June, as Israeli missiles rained down on Tehran, Iran’s supreme leader issued an instruction he had never given before: to prepare for his succession. With the threat of decapitation strikes hanging over him, Ayatollah Khamenei drew up a secret list of three clerics who could take his place and told his assembly of experts to choose between them if he was killed.

It was the first of several key lessons the Islamic regime would take from that war as the prospect of another now looms. Khamenei also picked four layers of succession for all the military and civilian leaders he personally appoints: others beyond that circle were ordered to name their own four rungs of replacements.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran, USA

China to send Iran aircraft carrier killing missiles

Iran is close to buying a supersonic missile from China that could destroy American aircraft carriers.

Officials from the Islamic Republic are in advanced negotiations with Beijing to purchase the CM-302 cruise weapon, which is designed to damage warships, according to Reuters.

The news agency cited six sources as saying that negotiations, which began two years ago, sped up after the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last June.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran, USA

Ayatollah names proxy as new anti-government protests erupt

Iran’s supreme leader has appointed a top national security official as caretaker of the regime in case of a targeted killing, reports say, as protests among students erupted in Tehran for the first time since last month’s deadly crackdown.

Under threat of assassination and strikes by the United States, Ayatollah Khamenei went into hiding and was reported to have chosen Ali Larijani, 67, to run the country as his successor.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran

Trump ‘could kill Ayatollah’s son and senior mullahs to topple Iranian regime’

Donald Trump is considering plans to assassinate the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei among the military options for a strike on Iran.

The US president has reportedly been presented with a decapitation campaign against the leadership of the Islamic Republic, with Mojtaba Khamenei on the list alongside his father.

The supreme leader’s 55-year-old son had been thought his most likely successor, benefiting from close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp, a powerful branch of the armed forces that has been designated a terrorist entity by the United States.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran, USA

The Worst Possible Gift: A Dangerous Lifeline Deal to Iran’s Regime

There is one thing the Iranian regime needs now more than anything else — something upon which its survival may depend. That lifeline is a deal.

Precisely for that reason, at this moment of maximum pressure, President Donald J. Trump’s offering Tehran an agreement — especially one that provides sanctions relief, legitimacy, or breathing room — could become the single most consequential mistake of the century.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran