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Home Front: WoT

US cities up security in light of Iran’s history of murder-for-hire reprisals

2025-06-25

Good idea. It’s time to clear out the Iranian and Hezbollah sleeper cells

[IsraelTimes] FBI said to reassign agents to monitor for threats from Islamic Republic, which has previously targeted senior American politicians and a prominent dissident

The US Department of Homeland Security has warned of a "heightened threat environment" following American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and the deputy FBI director said the bureau’s "assets are fully engaged" to prevent retaliatory violence, while local law enforcement agencies in major US cities like New York said they were on high alert.

No credible threats to the domestic US have surfaced publicly in the days since the stealth American attack. It’s also unclear what bearing a ceasefire announced Monday by the US between Israel and Iran
Iran

.

The scheme was revealed to law enforcement by an accused Iranian government asset who spent time in American prisons for robbery and who is alleged to maintain a network of criminal associates enlisted by Tehran for surveillance and murder-for-hire plots.

The man, Farhad Shakeri, told the FBI that a contact in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed him last September to set aside other work he was doing and assemble a plan within seven days to surveil and ultimately kill Trump, authorities have said.

He said the official told him if he could not put together a plan within that timeframe, then the plot would be paused until after the election because the official assumed Trump would lose and that it would be easier to kill him then, according to a criminal complaint.

Shakeri disclosed some of the details of the alleged plots in a series of recorded telephone interviews with FBI agents while in Iran, the complaint said. The stated reason for his cooperation, he told Sherlocks, was to try to get a reduced prison sentence for an associate behind bars in the US. Shakeri is on the lam and has not been apprehended.

A PLOT AGAINST JOHN BOLTON
John Bolton was ousted from his position as Trump’s national security adviser months before the Soleimani strike, but he nonetheless found himself targeted in a plot that US officials say was orchestrated by a member of the Revolutionary Guard and involved a $300,000 offer for an liquidation.

Unbeknownst to the operative behind the plot, the man he thought he was hiring to carry out the killing was actually a confidential informant who was secretly working with the FBI.

The US Justice Department filed criminal charges in August 2022 even as the operative, Shahram Poursafi, remained on the lam.

A PLOT AGAINST MASIH ALINEJAD
Sometimes the intended target is not a US government official but rather a dissident or critic of the Iranian government.

That was the case with Masih Alinejad, a prominent Iranian American journalist and activist in New York who was targeted by Iran for her online campaigns encouraging women there to record videos of themselves exposing their hair in violation of edicts requiring them to cover it in public.

Two purported crime bosses in the Russian mob were convicted in March of plotting to assassinate her at her home in New York City in a murder-for-hire scheme that prosecutors said was financed by Iran’s government.

Prosecutors said Iranian intelligence officials first plotted in 2020 and 2021 to kidnap her in the US and move her to Iran to silence her criticism.

When that failed, Iran offered $500,000 for Alinejad to be killed in July 2022 after efforts to harass, smear and intimidate her failed, prosecutors said.

A PLOT AGAINST A SAUDI AMBASSADOR
Underscoring the longstanding nature of the threat, federal prosecutors in 2011 accused two suspected Iranian agents of trying to murder the Saudi ambassador to the United States.

The planned kaboom was to be carried out while envoy Adel al-Jubeir dined at his favorite restaurant in Washington.

And as is common in such plots, the person approached for the job was not an Iranian but rather someone who was thought to be an associate of a Mexican drug trafficking cartel who was actually an informant for the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

Link

Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Trump is furiously accused WW2-style 'appeasement' as MPs warn Britain must be ready to go to WAR with Russia - amid fears Ukraine is only the start for Putin

2025-02-14

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Furious MPs today accused Donald Trump of 'appeasement' of Russia and warned Britain must be ready to go to war.

Politicians from across parties voiced alarm in the Commons after the US president's bombshell call with Vladimir Putin overnight.

Mr Trump and the Russian dictator had 'a lengthy and highly productive' phone conversation, during which they agreed that talks to end the conflict should start 'immediately'.

But any peace deal is expected to see Russia keep territory it has annexed since 2014, including the Crimean peninsula – a huge blow to Kyiv after three years of fighting for freedom. Ukraine joining Nato - an official policy of the alliance - has also been effectively ruled out.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump is demanding that European Nato powers commit to spending 5 per cent of GDP on defence - a level the US itself does not reach. The UK is one of the biggest spenders but has yet to set out a timetable to hit 2.5 per cent.

Speaking in Downing Street, Keir Starmer highlighted 'huge sacrifices' made by Ukrainians in the war. 'Nobody wants the conflict to continue... but we must make sure Ukraine is at the heart of it,' he said.

At a Nato meeting in Brussels this morning, Defence Secretary John Healey played down differences while stressing there 'can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine'.

However, MPs were far more blunt during an urgent session in Parliament.

Tory Sir Julian Lewis said Mr Trump needed reminding that 'appeasement led to World War Two', as he he urged the government to push defence spending quickly towards 5 per cent of GDP.

He said: 'Will the Government impress on President Trump at every possible opportunity that the reason why appeasement led to World War Two was that it left a vacuum in Europe? Whereas the reason why the occupation of Eastern Europe at the end of that war did not lead to World War Three was the United States filled any possible vacuum and contained further aggression.

'So if he is going for a settlement against the wishes of the Ukrainian people, the least he can do is to guarantee directly the security of that part of Ukraine which remains unoccupied.'

Fellow Conservative Sir Bernard Jenkin said: 'Some of the defence chiefs have been expressing this, that we must be ready to fight a war with Russia if necessary, in order to be able to deter Russia, and if we are to be in any position to guarantee the security of an independent and sovereign Ukraine, after whatever is agreed between President Trump and President Putin.'

Labour MP Johanna Baxter welcomed the UK's position that 'any negotiations about Ukraine must involve Ukraine'.

'Because if reports of the call between President Trump and Moscow are to be believed, then this is less the Art of the Deal and more a charter for appeasement,' she added, warning that further Russian aggression is 'inevitable'.

US defence chief Pete Hegseth told European counterparts yesterday that Ukraine's dream of returning to its pre-2014 borders was an 'illusionary goal' and that Kyiv's wish for NATO membership was 'not realistic'.

His statements were widely seen as a victory for Putin and a devastating blow to Kyiv, which as a result could be forced to cede vast swathes of territory without the prospect of a security guarantee.

'I tell you they're drinking vodka straight out of the bottle in the Kremlin tonight,' Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton told CNN. 'It was a great day for Moscow.'

Analysts have warned that appeasing Putin could result in history repeating itself, with former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt accusing Trump of an historical sell-out of Ukraine.

'It's certainly an innovative approach to a negotiation to make very major concessions even before they have started,' he said. 'Not even Chamberlain went that low in 1938. That Munich ended very bad anyhow.'

Bildt is among a number of experts who have drawn comparisons between Trump's statements and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's 'peace for our time' declaration.

Et cetera.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Trump says ‘would be nice’ to solve Iranian nuclear crisis without Israeli strikes

2025-01-25

I agree — it would be very nice. Not likely, I suspect, which is that whole reality thingy intruding, but nice if it were to happen that way.

[IsraelTimes] US president reportedly set to tap Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff as Iran point man, signaling turn away from ‘maximum pressure’ policy of 1st term: ‘Certainly somebody I would use’

US President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
on Thursday said he hopes the Iranian nuclear crisis can be solved without Israel having to carry out a military strike against the Islamic Theocratic RepublicThe remarks came after it was reported that Trump is planning to name his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as his point man on Iran, signaling the new administration’s resolve to address Tehran’s nuclear program diplomatically rather than militarily.

"I’m not going to answer that," Trump first replied when asked by news hounds in the Oval Office whether he would support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, adding that he would be holding meetings with various bigwigs on the matter shortly.

"Hopefully that can be worked out without having to worry about it. It would really be nice if that could be worked out without having to go that further step," Trump continued.

"Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
will hopefully make a deal, and if they don’t make a deal that’s okay too," he said.

Offering two possibilities. The second one is likely to be uncomfortable.

His administration has signaled in recent days that it wants to try and reach a diplomatic agreement with Iran to curb its nuclear program, rather than carrying out a military strike.

There had been some in Israel who assumed that Trump’s return to the White House would lead to the US backing an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites or even carrying out such an attack itself.

Trump had criticized his predecessor Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. You're a lyin' dog-faced pony soldier...
for publicly telling Israel not to strike Iranian oil and nuclear sites in retaliation for Tehran’s ballistic missile attack last year. Trump had argued that Biden shouldn’t be publicly telegraphing Israel’s next move.

Senior Trump officials were earlier quoted by Channel 12 news as saying the new US president "doesn’t want to kick off his term with a war," is interested in a "firm deal" to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear arms, and assesses that "the Iranians will run to the negotiating table under his leadership."

WITKOFF ’CERTAINLY SOMEBODY I WOULD USE’
Trump on Thursday also addressed the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
hostage release and ceasefire deal he helped finalize, saying it "should hold."

The comments appeared to soften ones he made earlier in the week, when he said he was not confident that the agreement would hold.

Asked to elaborate on those comments, Trump told news hounds, "It’s a very tricky place."

Trump credited his envoy Witkoff for securing the agreement that had been elusive for months. Noting that "both sides" liked Witkoff, Trump said, "That deal would have never been made without Steve."

"The deal should hold, but if it doesn’t there will be a lot of problems," Trump warned.

Trump was also asked whether he’ll want Witkoff to be negotiating directly with Iran, amid the reports that he was planning to have him handle US diplomacy with Tehran.

"No, but he’s certainly somebody I would use," Trump said.

The Financial Times had reported that Witkoff, known for his central role bringing the Gaza ceasefire deal to a conclusion, will oversee efforts to tackle Iran’s nuclear ambitions as part of a broader attempt to curb conflicts in the region, adding that the ceasefire agreement will remain Witkoff’s main focus.

News of Witkoff’s tentative appointment came as Trump revoked the security detail of two prominent Iran hawks from his previous administration: former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Iran envoy Brian Hook, both of whom were considered under threat by Iran.

Pompeo and Hook were the public faces of the US "maximum pressure" sanctions campaign against Iran after Trump in 2018 withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. The deal, signed in 2015, offered relief on sanctions in exchange for Iran’s drastically limiting its nuclear program.

In response to Trump’s withdrawal, Tehran, which is sworn to destroy Israel, has breached the deal in several ways, including by accelerating its uranium enrichment to levels that are unfeasible for civilian use.

Mohammad Javad Zarif
...former Persian foreign minister, Mouthpiece of Mullahs, good friend of John Kerry and similar exemplars of Merkin values...
, a top Iranian official who was Tehran’s lead negotiator on the 2015 deal, said Wednesday that he hopes "this time around, a ’Trump 2’ will be more serious, more focused, more realistic."

Though Trump has publicly vowed to resume "maximum pressure" on Iran, the Financial Times said that the US president and his aides have indicated in meetings that they want to keep the door open to diplomacy with the Islamic Theocratic RepublicAccording to the newspaper, some Trump officials have told foreign counterparts that they expect Witkoff to check whether diplomacy with Iran was possible.

However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
US officials cited by the newspaper said that Trump’s approach to Iran in his second term, and Witkoff’s mandate vis-a-vis the Islamic Theocratic Republic, were not yet settled.

A senior Republican staffer in the US Congress, quoted by the Financial Times, expressed frustration at Witkoff’s appointment, saying the new Iran point man was not hawkish enough.

"He’s already lifting pressure on Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, and in the process abandoning American hostages and endangering Israel," said the aide — though the White House on Thursday re-designated the Houthis as a terror group.

"He keeps saying he knows what Trump wants, but he doesn’t understand what Trump believes," the aide added.

The Financial Times noted that two of Trump’s appointments — Michael DiMino, the Pentagon’s new top Middle East official, and Elbridge Colby, nominated for under-secretary of defense for policy — have expressed skepticism over the use of military force to thwart Iran’s nuclear program.

A more robust approach, meanwhile, has been advocated by Trump’s designated national security adviser, Michael Waltz, and new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
The top diplomat, who was confirmed on Wednesday, said in a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later in the day that "he looks forward to addressing the threats posed by Iran and pursuing opportunities for peace," according to a State Department readout.

IRAN HAWKS POMPEO AND HOOK LOSE SECURITY DETAIL
A congressional staffer and a person familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
to discuss personal security details, confirmed Thursday that Trump had revoked Pompeo and Hook’s security details.

Neither source could offer an explanation. They said Pompeo and Hook were told of the loss of protection on Wednesday and that it took effect at 11 p.m. that night.

A day earlier, Trump had revoked the security clearance and Secret Service protection from John Bolton, another Iran hawk who was fired as Trump’s national security adviser during his first term.

Bolton, who has been targeted for liquidation for Iran, later wrote a book whose publication the White House unsuccessfully sought to block on grounds that it disclosed national security information.

Trump had soured on Pompeo some months ago, saying publicly that he would play no role in his new administration. In a social media post this week, Trump also fired Hook from his presidentially appointed position on the board of the Wilson Center, a think tank.

A representative for Pompeo did not immediately reply to a request for comment, and Hook has not responded to multiple voice and text messages from the AP since Bolton was stripped of his protection on Tuesday.

The New York Times

...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
first reported on the loss of protections.

The Biden administration’s State Department had provided and then systematically renewed round-the-clock protection by the Diplomatic Security Service for Pompeo and Hook since January 21, 2021, when they left office along with Trump. The last such authorization was on October 21.

Iran has blamed both for the killing of Iran Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Soleimani

on January 3, 2020.

According to a March 2022 report to Congress, the State Department said it was paying more than $2 million per month to provide 24-hour security to Pompeo and Hook. But later determinations did not give a dollar amount.

In those notifications, the State Department told politicians that threats against Pompeo and Hook remain "serious and credible" and continue to warrant government-provided security details.

Biden administration officials briefed Trump officials earlier this month about the ongoing threat posed by Iran to Pompeo, Hook, Bolton and others and why the administration had extended the security details for them, according to a former senior Biden administration official familiar with the matter.

The official, who requested anonymity to discuss the private briefing, said Trump administration officials are "well aware" of the "active threats" against the former government officials and called the move "highly irresponsible."

Link

Home Front: Politix

Trump cuts off security detail for Dr. Anthony Fauci

2025-01-25

[NY Post] Dr. Anthony Fauci had his taxpayer-funded security detail pulled, President Trump confirmed during a press conference Friday.

“I think when you work for government, at some point your security detail comes off, and you know, you can’t have them forever,” Trump told a reporter at a hurricane response briefing in Asheville, NC.

“We took some off other people too,” he noted, apparently referring to former national security adviser John Bolton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

“They can hire their own security too. … I can give them some good numbers of very good security people,” Trump added. “Fauci made a lot of money. They all did.”

Asked if he would feel “partially responsible if something were to happen” to Fauci or Bolton, Trump responded: “Certainly I would not take responsibility.”

Fauci, who is still facing threats over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, has hired personal security since having the government detail revoked on Thursday, according to CNN.

The longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has been accused of funneling taxpayer money oversees for dangerous gain-of-function research — including at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, from where many believe SARS‑CoV‑2 leaked to kick off a worldwide pandemic.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) had requested security for Fauci back in 2020 due to the death threats he was receiving for the role he played in advising the government during the pandemic.

He did not have Secret Service protection and was instead being protected by federal marshals, and then a private security contractor for which the government was paying, per the New York Times.

PJ Media adds:

While some are outraged at the idea that Trump is stripping Fauci of his security detail, the truth is that he hasn’t left Fauci a sitting duck to security threats. As Trump pointed out, he’s got plenty of money, and Fauci has been using his own private security detail for months now.

“Dr. Anthony Fauci is no longer getting a taxpayer-funded security detail and SUVs after the U.S. Marshals Service quietly dropped his nearly two-year $15 million deal,” the Daily Mail reported back in December.

Despite retiring from his $480,000-a-year government job in December 2022, the nation's top COVID doctor received a security detail for almost two years.

Dr. Fauci, who has an estimated $11 million net worth, was constantly surrounded by U.S. Marshals at the time whether he was at home or going to TV studios to film interviews.

That cost taxpayers $15 million in total, a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Marshals and the Department of Health and Human Services obtained by DailyMail.com first revealed.

That taxpayer-funded security arrangement quietly ended on September 30, 2024, the documents show, days before the election.

Fauci’s taxpayer-funded security detail ended during Biden’s presidency, not Trump’s. No one cried foul back when this was first reported.

Link

Government Corruption

Trump yanks clearances and authorizes further investigation into '51 intelligence professionals'

2025-01-22

[Red State] President Donald Trump, as expected, has signed an executive order revoking the security clearances of 51 intelligence officers who signed a letter portraying Hunter Biden’s laptop as ’Russian disinformation’ before the 2020 presidential election.

The order also authorizes further investigation into those involved in the publication of the infamous letter.

It requires the "Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency" to "revoke any current or active clearances" of the listed 51 individuals.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Directors Mike Hayden, John Brennan, and Leon Panetta, and former National Security Advisor John Bolton are on the list.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Day 2 liveblog: President Trump unveils Stargate, the ‘largest AI infrastructure project in history

2025-01-22

Fox News liveblogged President Trump’s second day in office.

FAST FACTS
Day 2 of President Donald Trump's second presidential term is shaping up to be a very busy day for Trump, with confirmation hearings for two of his Cabinet nominees.

At 10 a.m. ET, Veterans Affairs Secretary pick Doug Collins will testify before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, while Trump's choice for Ambassador to the U.N., Elise Stefanik, will testify before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

The Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote on Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent.

On Monday, Donald Trump took the Oath of Office and was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. He is only the second man in the nation’s history to return to the Oval Office after a hiatus. He has promised to "act with historic speed" – and on his first day in office, he signed more than 200 executive orders. This sweeping, initial wave of policy initiatives concentrated on border security, energy, reducing the cost of living for American families, ending DEI programs across the federal government, and more.

A few items from the day:

Trump explains why he pulled John Bolton's secret service detail
Bolton, who served as Trump's chief national security advisor during his first term before getting fired by the president, had his U.S. Secret Service protection detail discontinued by Trump before his first 24-hours in office even expired.

During Trump's Tuesday press conference, he responded to a reporter's question asking him to explain the move.

"I think that was enough time," Trump responded. "You take a job, you want to do a job we're not going to have security on people for the rest of their lives. Why should we?"

Trump announces plans to visit Helene-ravaged NC, wildfire areas in CA

Vance swears in new GOP senators
Vice President JD Vance swore in new GOP Senators Ashley Moody of Florida, and Jon Husted of Ohio on Tuesday, solidifying a 53-seat Republican majority in the upper chamber.

Senators receive affidavit with allegations about Pete Hegseth's previous marriage
Democratic Senators on the Armed Services Committee, the main committee that handled Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearings, are reviewing allegations sent to them in an affidavit from Hegseth's former sister-in-law about alleged domestic abuse and other issues in his previous marriage.

The accusations have been slammed by Republicans, including Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., who serves on the Armed Services Committee, and President Donald Trump's son, Don Jr.

"This is a desperate, last-minute attempt by Dems and the media to smear Pete Hegseth and tank his nomination," Sheehy said Tuesday on social media. "Pete’s ex-wife is on record saying the claims are false, but the media doesn’t care because it hurts a Republican. Nobody should fall for this."

MSNBC is flaming pile of garbage.

Samantha Hegseth, the ex-wife has come out and said this FORMER sister-in-law of her had no permission or authorization to speak on her behalf.

I smell a defamation lawsuit coming. pic.twitter.com/MpWjbHSYSN
— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) January 21, 2025

Arizona's legislature moves to back Trump's ICE on deportations

Scott Bessent confirmed by Senate committee to head up Treasury

Former presidents mum following Donald Trump's inauguration
All four living former presidents – Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden – attended the inauguration ceremony, and sat behind Trump as he gave a politically charged speech about his vision for the future of the country. None had any public well-wishes for the incoming president after the swearing-in ceremony. Asked whether they planned to put out a statement on it, none of their offices responded Monday afternoon.

Link

Home Front: Politix

RFK,jr. says President Trump privately funding transition team 3 months ahead of election

2024-10-28

[X]Hattip 3dc.

NEW: Robert Kenendy Jr. says that Donald Trump is breaking tradition by privately funding his transition team and has already started it three months early.

Kennedy began by talking about why he's chosen to trust Trump, saying, "I've talked to Donald Trump specifically about… pic.twitter.com/8J7SW9ig63
— Christian Movick (@ChristianM_74) October 27, 2024

… specifically about this, and I said, 'Look, the last time you were in there, you put John Bolton in charge of NSA, and Mike Pompeo in charge of the CIA... and he said, 'Here's the difference... when I got in last time, I had no idea how to govern, and I got surrounded by donors and corporate people who said you appoint this guy and appoint that guy... I appointed a lot of bad people.'

He continued, "I was listening this morning to this extraordinary interview that Donald Trump did with Joe Rogan yesterday... and he said, 'This time I'm not gonna do that.' He told us that (too), and he didn't just promise that, but he did something no other president's done before. Normally, the transition team is not created until November 6th because GAO, the General Accounting Office, pays for all the cost of the transition team. Trump said, 'I'm not gonna do it this time. I'm not gonna do it their way. I'm gonna start my own transition team three months early.' And he got private donors to fund it, and he's appointed 20 people including me and Tulsi, and there's people of all different kinds of ideology and people who we're gonna have to go up against on that transition team and fight for our vision. But I can tell you this, which is unique: there are no corporate lobbyists on that transition team. And, usually, it's 100% corporate lobbyists. So it's very, very different, and it gives me lots of hope that this government is gonna be different than any government we've ever seen."

Link

Terror Networks

Foiled attack on Chabad Athens offers glimpse into Iran’s anti-Jewish terror plots

2024-10-06

[IsraelTimes] Since 2020, Islamic Republic is thought to be behind at least 33 thwarted kidnappings and murders of officials, Jewish and Israeli targets in West — likely an undercount

As the Iran-Israel conflict intensifies, Tehran is roiling the West with a wave of attempted hits and kidnappings against targets in Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and the United States. Washington and its allies have reported a sharp rise in such plots linked to the Islamic Theocratic Republic in recent years. Since 2020, there have been at least 33 liquidation or abduction attempts in the West in which local or Israeli authorities allege an Iran
Iran

...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
link, Rooters found in an examination of court documents and public statements by government officials.

Among recent alleged targets: a building that houses a Jewish center and kosher restaurant in downtown Athens.

From his perch in Iran, a Pak named Sayed Fakhar Abbas recruited an old acquaintance living in Greece and directed him to attack the site, Sherlocks allege in documents submitted to judicial authorities in the case and viewed by Rooters. Abbas told his contact that he was working for a group that would pay some 15,000 euros per kill.

In a January 2023 WhatsApp exchange detailed in the documents, the two men discussed whether to use explosives or arson in the attack. Abbas stressed the need to provide proof of casualties after the strike.

"There are secret agencies" involved, he said, without naming names. "Do the job in a way that does not leave any room for complaints by them."

The previously unreported documents include hundreds of pages of evidence gathered during Greece’s pre-trial probe, including witness testimony, police statements and details of WhatsApp messages. They purport to show how Abbas groomed his contact, a slim-built fellow Pak named Syed Irtaza Haider, as the two drifted between prosaic talk of life back home and plotting attacks.

Greek authorities arrested Haider and another Pak last year, saying police helped dismantle a terrorist network directed from abroad that intended to inflict "human loss." The two men face terrorism-related charges. They deny wrongdoing.

Haider, released from pre-trial detention this spring with restrictions, says he’s innocent. In an interview, the 28-year-old told Rooters he sent Abbas images of the building but intentionally stalled on carrying out any attack, hoping to get paid without harming anyone.

"It was all talk but no action," he said. His lawyer, Zacharias Kesses, said Haider "never participated substantially" in illegal activity.

Alleged ringleader Abbas also faces terrorism-related charges. Back home in Pakistain, he is wanted on suspicion of murder, a Pak police official said. Abbas remains on the lam and couldn’t be reached for comment. The third suspect also couldn’t be reached. That man has denied wrongdoing, according to Iraklis Stavaris, a lawyer who represented him when he was charged.

Greek police declined to comment. The case awaits a decision by judicial authorities about whether to proceed to trial, according to Haider’s lawyer.

The Mossad, which assisted the Greek probe, has said the planned attack was orchestrated by Iran as part of a multinational network operated from the Islamic Theocratic Republic. Israel declined to comment on the case or other Mossad activities.

Iran denies the Mossad’s claim. The operational techniques fit patterns seen in some other alleged Iranian plots, however. That includes the type of target — Israeli or Jewish civilians — and the use of hired non-Iranian assassins. At least two other cases tallied by Rooters allegedly involved Pak nationals.

Targets of other recent alleged plots include senior US officials as well as Iranian journalists and others in the diaspora. Former US president Donald Trump
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
was briefed by US intelligence on "real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him," his campaign recently said. Tehran has publicly denied involvement in some alleged plots in the US.

The shadow war is also playing out in Europe, site of most of the alleged plots tallied by Rooters.

"Since 2020, Iran has dramatically intensified lethal plotting against former US officials, Iranian dissidents and Jewish and Israeli interests in the United States and abroad," said Brett Holmgren, acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a US intelligence-coordinating agency.

Tehran has in turn accused its rivals of terrorist acts, pointing to killings of senior members of its security forces by Israel and the US.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
in New York told Rooters that the Islamic Theocratic Republic "harbors neither the intent nor the plan to engage in liquidation or abduction operations, whether in the West or any other country." It called such allegations "fabrications" meant "to divert attention from the atrocities committed by the Israeli regime" in the conflict in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...>
, has over the years repeatedly called for an end to Israel, and Tehran has been accused of antisemitism by US and other Western politicians. Iran has said it respects Judaism but opposes Israel.

The recent rise in alleged hit attempts comes amid escalating tensions between the Islamic Theocratic Republic and Israel.

Iran on Tuesday fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday, driving millions into bomb shelters, amid Israel’s escalation against Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah over the past two weeks. Israel also recently said it thwarted an Iranian-backed liquidation plot targeting prominent people.

HIRED ASSASSINS
The Rooters tally of Iranian plots includes incidents that were alleged or found to have been orchestrated by the Islamic Theocratic Republic, conducted on its behalf, or directed by someone in Iran or with close ties to it.

It is likely an undercount, because it captures only cases in which authorities have publicly alleged an Iran connection. Some governments are wary of publicly calling out Iran due to diplomatic considerations, said Matthew Levitt, director of the counterterrorism program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank.

Mossad director David Barnea said last year that over the previous year, Israeli intelligence had worked with international partners to disrupt 27 teams that tried to mount attacks abroad that were "orchestrated, criminal masterminded, and directed by Iran." Israel declined to provide details.

One key trend among the alleged plots reviewed by Rooters is the use of hired hit men, including organized criminals and gang members. Washington and its allies say the outsourcing is an attempt to obscure links to the Islamic Theocratic Republic.

In December, a German court sentenced a German-Iranian man to two years and nine months in prison for planning an arson attack on a synagogue on behalf of the Iranian state. After learning of the security measures around the synagogue in Bochum, he threw a Molotov cocktail at a building next door, the Higher Regional Court in Dusseldorf found. The man admitted throwing the device at the building, according to the court’s ruling.

In echoes of the Greek case, he was recruited by a man living in Iran, another German-Iranian who is being investigated in Germany for two unrelated murders there, the court found. It said the Iran-based man was following orders by Iranian "government agencies." Tehran has called the allegation "baseless."

In the US, there have been at least five alleged Iran-linked liquidation or abduction cases brought by prosecutors since 2020. Three involved murder-for-hire plots.

Prosecutors recently charged a Pak man who they say had close ties to Iran in connection with a foiled attempt to assassinate a US politician or government official in retaliation for the US killing in January 2020 of Tehran’s most prominent military commander, Qassem Soleimani

.

Former US president Trump was discussed by the suspect as a potential target, but the 2024 scheme wasn’t conceived as a plot to assassinate him, according to a person familiar with the matter, as Rooters previously reported.

After spending time in Iran, the suspect, Asif Merchant, flew from Pakistain to the United States to recruit hit men for the plot, according to a July criminal complaint. Merchant was indicted last month for allegedly attempting to commit terrorism and murder-for-hire. Merchant has pleaded not guilty
"Wudn't me."
. His lawyer didn’t respond to requests for comment.

After Soleimani’s death, Iran’s Khamenei said harsh Dire Revenge awaited the "criminals" responsible. Iran’s UN mission told Rooters that Tehran’s policy is to lawfully prosecute those responsible for killing Soleimani.

’LETHAL OPERATIONS’
The target of another murder-for-hire plot in the US was an Iranian-American journalist and prominent critic of the Islamic Theocratic Republic.

Prosecutors allege members of an Eastern European crime group attempted to assassinate the journalist under the direction of a man in Iran. An Azeri living in the US allegedly received instructions and a $30,000 payment from the Iran-based man. The Azeri turned up at the journalist’s Brooklyn home with an AK-47-style assault rifle, prosecutors say.

The target, Masih Alinejad, told Rooters she was shocked when US authorities informed her the armed man had come to her house. She said she had heard someone at the door but hadn’t answered because she was engrossed in a video call.

Alinejad, a vocal critic of Iran’s head-covering laws for women, was previously the target of what prosecutors say was a foiled Tehran-backed kidnapping plot. Iran has denied that.

Alinejad, 48, said she was forced to abandon her home, leaving behind friends and neighbors for a series of temporary hideouts. She said she’s had to relocate nearly 20 times in recent years under US law-enforcement protection. In one long stint, she and her husband were separated from her stepchildren.

"We don’t feel safe anymore," Alinejad said of Iranian dissidents living in the US.

US prosecutors have charged three men in the murder plot. A fourth — the Azeri man, Khalid Mehdiyev — was named as a co-conspirator in an indictment filed last month. The Justice Department had no comment; Mehdiyev’s lawyer didn’t respond to comment requests.

Two of the other men have pleaded not guilty in the case. The third man faces charges of aiding murder and other crimes in his home country of Georgia, according to Czech authorities, who arrested him last year.

Matthew Olsen, the US assistant attorney general for national security, said Tehran has failed to hide its hand in the wave of plots on American soil.

"We’ve managed in a number of these cases to identify the malicious actors who are part of these proxy groups, but also to expose their direct ties back to the Iranian regime," Olsen said in an interview.

Among the Iranian officials named by Washington as responsible for directing attack planning is Mohammad Reza Ansari. The US says he is part of a Revolutionary Guards unit focused on "lethal operations" in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.

Ansari tried to kill two top former US government officials beginning in late 2021 with the help of another Iranian, Shahram Poursafi, according to Washington.

US prosecutors have charged Poursafi, who they say is a Revolutionary Guards member, with plotting to murder former US National Security Adviser John Bolton and another unnamed individual. Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo identified himself as the second target in one of his books.

Bolton, in an interview, said he believes he remains a target of Iran. "I think this is the most unprecedented campaign of attempted liquidations against American officials and former officials in our history," he said.

Iran has called the allegations "ridiculous and baseless." Poursafi remains on the lam. He, Ansari and the Revolutionary Guards didn’t respond to requests for comment.

HEIGHTENED TENSION
At least six of the plots tallied by Rooters in Europe since 2020 involve Israeli or Jewish targets. Nearly all of those allegedly involve hired hit men.

It was during this time that Abbas contacted Haider from Iran. Haider was living in Greece as an undocumented migrant, according to the legal records Rooters viewed. Haider told Rooters that the two knew each other from back home. Both came from the same town of Alipur in Punjab
...1. Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2. A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3. A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots
....
province, eastern Pakistain. Both are Shi’ite Moslems, the faith of Iran’s theocracy, he told Greek authorities.

Haider studied engineering in Pakistain and arrived in Greece in 2019, he told Rooters. He settled on the island of Zakynthos, a popular tourist destination. He lived in an apartment building with other Pak nationals and found work in an olive grove and other seasonal jobs.

Abbas also came from Pakistain. Authorities there suspect him of criminal masterminding an October 2021 abduction and murder, according to a police official who works in Punjab province.

Greek police identified an Instagram account in the documents under the name Shani Shah Sherazi that they say belongs to Abbas. The last post to the account was in mid-October 2021.

Abbas, a married father of two, crossed into Iran by road in February 2022 and hasn’t returned, a Punjab intelligence official told Rooters.

It was after arriving in Iran that Abbas recruited Haider. By April 2022, the two were in contact via WhatsApp, according to Haider’s testimony to the investigative magistrate and messages detailed in the legal documents.

In a November 2022 WhatsApp exchange, the two men discussed targets and methods of lethal attacks. Abbas told Haider to emphasize to other potential recruits what the group was willing to pay: "The reward per head is five million rupees" — roughly 16,000 euros at the time.

The men frequently discussed money. Haider badgered Abbas to send funds, according to the WhatsApp records. Abbas complained in December 2022 that he couldn’t pay his rent and had to borrow cash.

"When the job is done, for the rest of our lives, we won’t want money again," Abbas wrote to Haider that month.

A STAGED MURDER
As 2022 drew to a close, Abbas pressed Haider to obtain images of the Chabad of Athens. The two-story building, on a side street in a bustling part of the capital, houses the Jewish center, which has a prayer area and a kosher restaurant.

Haider enlisted the help of the third suspect to supply photos and video of the building in December 2022, the man testified to the magistrate. The third suspect also told authorities he was unaware the building was a Jewish center. The third man said it was only later that Haider relayed Abbas’s proposal to pay for killings, whereupon he immediately refused.

In early January 2023, Haider traveled to Athens and recorded videos of the Chabad of Athens and surrounding area, he testified. In forwarding the footage to Abbas, Haider described the area as full of shops and tourists. Abbas responded by saying "good job."

Their methods were amateurish at times.

Haider staged a fake murder in an apparent effort to hoodwink Abbas and his bosses. While in Athens, Haider convinced a Nepalese-born man to play the part of the victim in a mock execution, promising to pay him 2,500 euros, according to testimony by the Nepalese man contained in the documents. Haider dressed him in clothes stained in what he said was blood from a slaughtered goat, then told him to lie on the floor and play dead so Haider could video him, the man testified. The Nepalese man couldn’t be reached for comment.

Haider told the investigating magistrate that he staged the ruse because Abbas was pressuring him to kill people.

MOUNTING PRESSURE
By the second week of January 2023, Abbas and Haider were focused on the Chabad of Athens restaurant, Sherlocks allege in the documents. Abbas suggested arson, the messages indicate.

"Anything you can, do it quickly, I won’t be given much time," Abbas wrote on January 9.

"It will be done, I promise," Haider responded.

Within weeks, authorities swooped in. Acting on an anonymous tip, Greek police searched Haider’s apartment and detained him for possessing fake identity papers. Prosecutors filed terrorism-related charges the next month. In testimony after his arrest, Haider described the group Abbas recruited him into as a large but unnamed Iran-based organization.

As he awaits trial, Haider says he is working two jobs on Zakynthos — in a restaurant kitchen and as a security watchman. He has trouble sleeping. He faces prison in Greece, but if he beats the charges, home isn’t an option, he said, because he fears retribution from Abbas or his circle.

"I am afraid because I don’t know what will happen here," he said, "and I cannot go back to Pakistain."

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Home Front: WoT

Iran Plot To Assassinate Trump Was FBI Setup

2024-10-04

[TomKilingenstein] The day before Thomas Matthew Crooks sprayed gunfire at President Trump, the Federal Bureau of Investigations arrested Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national who was admitted into the U.S. via parole for “significant public benefit.” The Dallas office of the FBI sponsored Merchant’s parole for the purposes of “security interests.”

The mainstream media has framed this arrest as an Iranian plot gone awry. Lee Smith investigates Merchant’s connection to Iran and analyzes a dangerous habit at the FBI.

Two attempts on the life of a former president, less than two months apart, is unprecedented in American history. And yet it’s not entirely surprising given that the country’s most powerful institutions and industries have spent the last eight years weaponizing the most suggestible and mentally ill of our citizenry to target Donald Trump and his supporters. Now it seems the FBI may be recruiting from abroad as well.

According to the Trump campaign, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently briefed the Republican candidate on “real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States.” The Secret Service was alerted to the threat before the July 13 attempt on Trump’s life and reportedly increased his security because of it. But that was not enough to stop Thomas Matthew Crooks from shooting Trump in the face, killing Corey Comperatore, and wounding two other attendees.

There’s little doubt the Iranians are targeting Trump, say former intelligence officials with whom I spoke. “The Iranians are promiscuous assassins, and they hate Trump more than anyone else on earth,” says Peter Theroux, a retired CIA officer who worked on Iran and related issues during his tenure at Langley. “Trump enforced sanctions against Iran. He moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. He was the most antithetical to everything Tehran wants, including the triumphal visit to Riyadh he made for his first presidential trip in 2017.”

But above all, there’s the fact Trump ordered the January 2020 assassination of Qasem Soleimani, onetime chief of the Quds Force, the external operations unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and second in command only to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Iranians have vowed to avenge the terror master’s death and have threatened not only the former president but also former Trump administration officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Iran envoy Brian Hook, National Security Advisor John Bolton, and his successor Robert O’Brien. In August 2022, the Justice Department charged an IRGC officer for plotting to kill Bolton.

The Islamic Republic definitely has it out for Trump, but it seems this most recent Iranian plot to kill the Republican candidate was hatched by the FBI.

Last month the DOJ announced it had charged a Pakistani national with ties to Iran in connection to a plot to assassinate a politician or U.S. government official on U.S. soil. According to reports, Trump was the target.

The suspect, Asif Merchant, entered the country in April and was arrested on July 12 as he prepared to leave the country. It appears that Merchant was the Iranian threat the Secret Service was briefed on before the July 13 rally in Butler, PA.

The FBI arranged his entry into the U.S. According to an August Twitter post from Fox correspondent Bill Melugin, Merchant “was admitted into the U.S. via parole for ‘significant public benefit’ when [Customs and Border Patrol] encountered him at the airport in [Texas] in April after he flew in from overseas.” The sponsor of his parole, Melugin reported, “was the FBI’s Dallas office, for ‘security interests.’”

Melugin’s sources told him the FBI had intelligence on Merchant “before he arrived in the U.S. and needed him to physically come into the country to develop the case on him and arrest him, and that if they had arrested him at Customs, they would not have been able to gather evidence and information about his plot.”

But to date there’s little evidence the FBI developed a case based on intelligence collected before Merchant’s entry. Rather, it seems more likely that federal law enforcement imported a terrorist entrapment target for the purpose of fabricating a plot. Former FBI agent turned whistleblower Steve Friend says the Bureau’s playbook is simple: “Identify a vulnerable person. Establish fake friendships with undercover agents and informants. Encourage him to agree to commit a terrorist act he is otherwise incapable of committing. Arrest him.”

Friend says that if the FBI really had probable cause for an arrest, it would make sense to facilitate Merchant’s travel rather than going through a lengthy and possibly contentious extradition process. But what’s curious, he says, “is that he was in the country for several months before they executed the arrest.”

If the FBI had intelligence on Merchant’s plan to kill Trump before he arrived in the United States, there’s no evidence of it in the affidavit for his arrest. “It was all information about his actions while in the United States,” says Friend. “That doesn’t mean that he hadn’t done anything before then. But it confirms that they didn’t have enough to arrest him when he arrived here.”

Neither the affidavit nor the indictment make a strong case that Merchant is an experienced operative. The “use of coded language, use of multiple cellular telephones, and removal of cellular telephones to attempt to avoid surveillance” cited in the affidavit do not, contrary to the arresting agent’s contention, exemplify expert “tradecraft and operational security measures.” “It’s laughable,” says Friend. “Like complex tradecraft is telling an accomplice to put his phone in a box? A corner drug dealer’s tradecraft is more sophisticated than that.”

Nor is there any evidence of Merchant’s ties to the Iranian regime. In the affidavit, the arresting agent cites his experience working on investigations related to Iran and the Quds Force, but all that connects Merchant to Iran is the fact he has a wife and family there as well as another wife and family in Pakistan. He traveled to Iran before coming to the U.S., but there’s no indication of what he did there, who he met with, how the plot originated, or on whose behalf it was to be executed.

In fact, according to the affidavit, Merchant told undercover agents that the “people who will be targeted are the ones who are hurting Pakistan and the world, [the] Muslim world.” The FBI resolves this major discrepancy by explaining it away. “In my training and experience,” the arresting agent states in the affidavit, “individuals engaged in plots originating overseas to commit acts of violence in the United States often obscure the sponsor or broader purpose of the plot.”

But that’s not what DOJ records documenting previous Iranian plots show. For instance, DOJ’s 2022 filings regarding the arrest of Iranian national Shahram Poursafi for plotting to kill Bolton specifically identify the suspect as a member of the IRGC. DOJ documents concerning the 2011 arrest of Manssor Arbabsiar for conspiring to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.S. show that Arbabsiar confessed that he met with Quds Force officials who recruited, funded, and directed him to blow up a Washington, D.C. restaurant where the Saudi ambassador regularly ate. There’s nothing in the Merchant filings tying him to official Iranian channels.

There are other signs that there’s something not quite right about the Merchant plot. Arbabsiar was ready to pay $1.5 million for killing the Saudi ambassador. Poursafi put a $300,000 bounty on Bolton’s head and said he had an additional job for which he’d pay $1 million, presumably to kill Trump. But Merchant offered only $5,000 to kill Trump. And he didn’t even have the money. He had to travel from New York to Boston to make arrangements to have $5,000 sent from a foreign country, which, according to the affidavit, was likely Pakistan.

But perhaps the most bizarre detail is Merchant’s assertion that the assassination was to be only the first in an ongoing series of high-profile crimes. How, after killing the former and likely future president in broad daylight, did Merchant expect to evade law enforcement authorities long enough to embark on a sustained crime spree targeting heavily guarded politicians and officials?

Historically, the Iranians don’t send their best when targeting their enemies abroad. Arbabsiar, for instance, reportedly suffered from bipolar disorder and was known for being disorganized. But Merchant stands apart. From the court filings alone, it’s plain that he’s delusional. It seems pretty obvious that the so-called Iran plot, or at least the Merchant component of it, is an FBI fabrication.

Why would the FBI invent a plot to kill Trump? First, by claiming the Iranians are responsible for this effort deflects attention from the fact that the real two would-be assassins, Crooks and Ryan Routh, are Democratic Party supporters. Further, says Friend, it boosts FBI statistics. “If they had just been aware of some sort of a plot and brought it to light then it would have been a disruption of a domestic terrorist plot. But because they arrested him, it’s dismantlement, which is a very rare and very valuable statistic.”

Disruption interferes with an organization’s ability to function, like arresting a member of a drug gang. It disrupts the gang in a way that is going to impede them. But dismantlement, says Friend, “means taking down the entire organization. With the Merchant plot, the FBI can argue that he was forming an organization and now [they’ve] dismantled it — even though he was able to create it only because [they] facilitated his entry.” And because the other members of the plot are informants or undercover officers.

The Merchant plot is reminiscent of the alleged Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping and murder plot in 2020. Court proceedings showed that the entire scheme was cooked up by federal law enforcement officers and informants.

The danger with these kind of entrapment schemes, Friend explains, isn’t that someone as obviously incompetent as Merchant was going to kill Trump, but that, as a mentally unstable target committed to righting perceived wrongs against the Muslim world, he might have selected easier targets.

“This is a low intelligence person that they were able to cultivate here,” says Friend. “What if he just at one point had a moment of clarity and said, ‘Hey, this is a huge lift? I don’t have the logistics. I don’t have the financing. Why don’t I just grab a giant knife and stab an infidel?’ But that’s not something the FBI ever takes into consideration because they don’t think about the people they’re supposed to be protecting.”

The FBI’s problem isn’t just that it’s fudging statistics to boost its budget and win accolades, raises, and promotions all around for “solving” a high-profile case. The much bigger issue is timing. After all, Merchant was arrested a day before the first attempt on Trump’s life in Butler. There’s no evidence that the Secret Service’s failures that afternoon can be attributed to anything but incompetence. But the fact that the FBI is importing foreigners and encouraging them to plot against Trump raises questions that both the Secret Service and FBI would prefer to ignore.

Typically, the Bureau hides facts by claiming they are part of an active investigation and can’t be divulged to the public. This time, FBI Director Christopher Wray, notoriously stingy with facts he is bound to share with the American public, must come clean.

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Home Front: WoT

US sets reward for info on Iranian behind plot to assassinate John Bolton

2024-09-27

[IsraelTimes) State Department offers $20 million after it discovered in 2020 that IRGC member Shahram Poursafi had paid someone $300,000 to kill Trump’s former national security advisor

The US State Department announced a $20 million reward on Thursday for information leading to the arrest of the alleged Iranian criminal mastermind behind a plot to assassinate former White House official John Bolton.

US officials said in August 2022 that they had uncovered a plot by Shahram Poursafi, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to kill Bolton, who served as national security advisor to former US president Donald Trump
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
The State Department’s "Rewards for Justice" program "is offering a reward of up to $20 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction" of Poursafi, a notice said Thursday.

The move comes as 78-year-old Trump, who is running for a new White House term, claimed there are "big threats" on his life by Iran.

Doesn’t he say that because he was told so by the Biden administration?

Bolton, considered a foreign policy hawk, is a fierce critic of Iran
Iran

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Home Front: WoT

Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran arrested in political assassination plots including Trump

2024-08-07

[JustTheNews] The U.S. Justice Department charged Asif Merchant, 46, a Pak man with alleged ties to the Iranian government with plotting to carry out political liquidations, according to an indictment revealed on Tuesday.

The arrest on July 12 resulted in enhanced security for former President Donald Trump
...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
and certain U.S. government officials who the FBI
FBI

...Formerly one of the world's premier criminal investigation organizations, something for a nation to be proud of. Now it's a political arm of the Deep State oligarchy that is willing to trump up charges, suppress evidence, or take out insurance policies come election time...
reportedly determined were the suspect's targets.

A Justice Department official confirmed the case involving Merchant was the threat that Secret Service was aware of when it became to ramp up Trump's security in the lead up to the Butler, Pa. rally where he was shot.

Federal prosecutors filed the charges in Brooklyn against Merchant, who reportedly traveled to New York City and collaborated with hitmen on the plot.

Merchant is currently in federal custody after getting arrested while allegedly planning to leave the U.S.

The Times of Israel has a photo of the miscreant, and adds:

A Pakistani man with ties to Iran has been arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate a US official in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qassem Soleimani, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Federal officials identified Asif Raza Merchant, 46, as a Pakistani citizen who has said he has a wife and children in Iran. He traveled frequently to Iran, Syria and Iraq, the Justice Department said and allegedly sought to hire a hitman to assassinate a politician or a US government official in the United States.

Soleimani, who headed the IRGC’s Quds Force, a US-designated terrorist group, was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020. Iranian officials have repeatedly vowed to take “revenge” for the killing.

Court documents do not identify any of the potential targets, but the case was unsealed just weeks after US officials disclosed that a threat on Donald Trump’s life from Iran prompted additional security in the days before a Pennsylvania rally last month in which Trump was injured by a gunman’s bullet.

FBI Director Christopher Wary said the Pakistani national had “close ties to Iran” and that the alleged murder-for-hire plot was “straight out of the Iranian playbook.”

Asif Merchant traveled to New York in April for the purpose of hiring hitmen, even paying a $5,000 advance to two would-be assassins who were actually undercover law enforcement officers.

The instructions prosecutors say he gave to the men he thought he was hiring were for killings to take place in August or September — after he had left the country.

Merchant was arrested on July 12 as he planned to leave the country.

In August 2022, the United States charged a member of the Revolutionary Guards with plotting to assassinate former US National Security Advisor John Bolton. The Justice Department said Shahram Poursafi, who remains at large, had offered to pay an individual in the United States $300,000 to kill Bolton.

Iran has dismissed the claim that it had plotted to kill Bolton as “fiction.”

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International-UN-NGOs

Here's what the man tipped to be Trump's National Security Advisor told me about NATO

2024-07-01

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] We will undoubtedly ask, in years to come, how the issue of defence played no part in the 2024 General Election.

That is Britain’s general election, not America’s.

There was just a momentary spat when the Conservatives boasted that they would increase defence spending from its current level of 2.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent of GDP ‘by 2030’, while Labour said they would reach 2.5 per cent ‘when conditions allow’.

The latter is a meaningless statement, but the Conservatives’ claim is hardly a triumph of resolve.

And it is extraordinary that the greatly increased likelihood of Donald Trump being (re)elected President, following the cruelly public exposure of Joe Biden’s incapacity in their so-called debate last week, has still not caused the issue of defence to be raised in our own election.

It could hardly be clearer that Donald Trump, returned to the White House, will not just demand that we and other European countries pay much, much more of the costs of defence against the depredations of the insatiable warmonger in the Kremlin: he actually has no intention of assisting us.

Last month, it was revealed that Trump had told the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen: ‘We will leave, we will quit Nato. And by the way, you owe me $400 billion, because you didn’t pay, you Germans, what you had to pay for defence.’

It is said this was some sort of bluff; Trump’s negotiating tactic to get Europeans to cough up more.

Not according to John Bolton, who was his National Security Advisor: ‘I was there when he almost withdrew [from Nato], and he’s not negotiating. His goal here is not to strengthen Nato, it’s to lay the groundwork to get out.

A fortnight ago, I was at a lunch the leading Westminster think-tank Policy Exchange held for the man whom many tip to be National Security Advisor in Trump 2.0: Elbridge Colby.

The formidably articulate Colby, who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence during the first Trump administration, shocked the British military panjandrums present with his strong intimation that he did not necessarily see a Russian attack on a European Nato member as a reason for the U.S. to send its forces into action.

He was unmoved as one of the guests pointed out that when the U.S., after 9/11, sought backing for its invasion of Afghanistan (where Osama bin Laden lurked), all its Nato allies sent troops in support, too.

Colby, like Trump, regards China as the only serious threat to U.S. interests, and believes all Washington’s military strategy should be directed against Xi Jinping’s plans for ‘Asian hegemony’: Beijing taking control of the archipelago of islands that runs from Japan, via Taiwan, to the southern edge of the South China Sea.

So, Colby told us, Europe must be ‘de-prioritised’, ridiculing what he called ‘the idea we should break our spear in Europe, which is much less important to the American people’.

Afterwards, when I spoke to him, Colby said: ‘You need to realise I’m moderate on this, compared with many in the Republican Party.’

He added: ‘Your Prime Minister says he will put 2.5 per cent of the UK’s GDP into defence. Why not 3.5 per cent? That’s what America spends.’

Fair point. Half a century ago, when there was no war in Europe, 5 per cent of our GDP was spent on defence.

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