Another claim about Israeli involvement. The usual Arab hysteria, or does this actually have some basis in fact? And if it’s real, can any of the parties do anything to stop the Israelis from doing exactly as they please, just as they have been since they started fighting back after 10/7?
[DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA] Saudi television’s disclosure places Yemen’s Mayun Island at the centre of UAE–Israel military convergence, Houthi escalation, and the strategic contest for control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The disclosure by Saudi state television that the United Arab Emirates has constructed a runway on Yemen’s Mayun Island capable of supporting Israeli military aircraft
Yes, yes — eeeeeevil Zios and all that. But do Israeli F-whatevers need special runways compared to anyone else’s F-whatevers, or is this just Jew-hatred on parade?
represents a profound escalation in the militarisation of one of the world’s most strategically sensitive maritime chokepoints, directly intersecting regional proxy warfare, Israel–Iran confrontation dynamics, and the global security of energy and commercial shipping lanes.
According to a source within Yemen’s internationally recognised, Aden-based government cited by Saudi News Channel, “The UAE has built a runway for Israeli aircraft to land on Mayon Island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait in the Yemeni governorate of Taiz,” a statement that, if validated, confirms a decisive shift from covert logistical presence to overt strategic basing with multinational implications.
This alleged development emerges against the backdrop of intensified Houthi missile and drone campaigns across the Red Sea theatre, Israeli kinetic operations tied to the Gaza war, and Iran’s expanding maritime denial posture, positioning Mayun Island as a potential fulcrum for airborne surveillance, interdiction, and strike coordination operations. More at the link
[IsraelTimes] The Anti-Defamation League calls out what it says is a recent influx of “openly antisemitic dog whistles” by Saudi media figures.
The apparent trend includes significant targeting of the United Arab Emirates amid Saudi Arabia’s ongoing feud and mounting rift with its Gulf neighbor over a variety of foreign policy issues, including Yemen and Somalia. Some analysts speculate that the rhetoric against Abu Dhabi is the result of a directive from the Saudi royal family.
A front page story in the Saudi newspaper Al-Jazirah yesterday claimed the UAE “was the biggest instigator of the Zionist entity’s aggression against the Gaza Strip.”
“ADL is alarmed by the increasing frequency and volume of prominent Saudi voices — analysts, journalists, and preachers — using openly antisemitic dog whistles and aggressively pushing anti-Abraham Accords rhetoric, often while peddling conspiracy theories about ‘Zionist plots,'” a statement from the group says.
“This is harmful on many levels, diminishing the prospect of peaceful coexistence in the region and weakening regional initiatives promoting tolerance, understanding, and prosperity,” the ADL adds.
The Al-Jazirah article was deleted from the paper’s website shortly after this post was published.
[IsraelTimes] Move is part of wider US push to deepen influence in Latin America, where former CIA officer says Iran is ‘using the most permissive jurisdictions as hubs’ for its operations
The United States is pushing Bolivia to kick suspected Iranian spies out of the South American country and designate Tehran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist group, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Washington also wants the government in La Paz to designate Hezbollah and Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... — both of which the United States considers to be proxies of Tehran — as terrorist organizations, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations.
The private diplomatic push comes amid a broader US effort to deepen its geopolitical influence in Latin America and diminish that of its adversaries in the region.
Following an operation earlier in January to capture Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south... n President Nicolás Maduro ...Commie el presidente para toda la vida of Venezuela, successor to Hugo Chavez. Nick is his country's attempt at producing a Muammar Qadaffy, except that even though his country's sitting on an enormous puddle of oil, he can't manage to get it out of the ground. Unlike Qadaffy and Hugo Chavez, he's not dead yet... , US officials quickly pushed the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez to curtail economic and security cooperation between Caracas and Tehran, according to a separate source familiar with the matter. For years, Venezuela and 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 JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... had been steadfast allies.
Asked for comment, the Bolivian foreign ministry said that "there is still no completely defined position regarding this matter." The State Department did not respond to a request for comment, while the Iranian mission to the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... declined to comment.
Bolivia, a landlocked country of 12 million people located in the heart of South America, would at first glance seem to be an unlikely venue for a proxy struggle between major world powers. Some current and former US officials, however, said the nation has become an important base for Iran’s diplomatic and intelligence operations throughout the continent.
In part, that is because of what US officials have described as a permissive counterintelligence environment, as well as the nation’s central location bordering several other nations, some of which have allegedly been the victim of attempted Hezbollah plots in recent years.
Rick de la Torre, a retired senior CIA officer and former Caracas chief of station, said Iran’s base of diplomatic and intelligence operations in Latin America was Venezuela. However,
denial ain't just a river in Egypt... Bolivia and Nicaragua — where an authoritarian government has cool relations with Washington — have served as Tehran’s "secondary nodes" in the region in recent years.
"(Bolivia’s) value to Tehran was the permissive political climate, lighter scrutiny and central geography," de la Torre said.
"In practice, the pattern you see across Latin America is Iran and Hezbollah using the most permissive jurisdictions as hubs, then projecting quietly into more capable or higher-value states nearby."
Evo Morales, Bolivia’s leftist president from 2006 to 2019, deepened ties to Iran over the course of his presidency, including on defense and security-related matters, arguing both nations were united in the fight against US imperialism.
Morales and leftist president Luis Arce, who governed from 2020 until late last year, were widely seen by US officials as unreceptive to potential efforts to distance La Paz from Tehran. Now, however, US officials believe they have a unique opportunity following the October election of centrist Rodrigo Paz, whose presidency marks an end to two decades of near-continuous rule by the leftist MAS party.
Paz’s government, which has inherited significant economic turmoil and a fractious legislature, has sought to repair ties with Washington while encouraging private investment. US officials have publicly welcomed Paz’s election, and in December, the US made Bolivia available for grant funding administered by the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent US agency.
EFFORT TO COUNTER IRAN RAMPING UP
The sources said the Iran-related push in Bolivia is part of a broader US campaign in the region. In September, US ally Ecuador designated the IRGC, Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations, while Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... designated Iran’s Quds Force last week. The US advocated for both moves, the sources said.
The IRGC has served as an elite military force loyal to Iran’s Supreme Leader since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, while the Quds Force is an IRGC branch responsible for overseas operations.
While the current push to drive a geopolitical wedge between Iran and Latin America is not new, there are signs the effort is ramping up. A delegation including State Department and intelligence officials traveled to La Paz this month in part to discuss the potential terrorist designations, the sources said.
US officials have also discussed pushing for terrorist designations in Chile, Peru and Panama, the officials added, though it is not clear they have yet discussed the matter with counterparts in those countries. Hezbollah operatives have been present in all of those nations, US officials have alleged, and all have US-aligned presidents or presidents-elect.
The Panamanian foreign ministry said it had not discussed the issue with US officials. The Chilean foreign ministry declined to comment, while the Peruvian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Among the most recent high-profile IRGC operations in the region was an alleged liquidation plot targeting the Israeli ambassador to Mexico, which was foiled last year by Mexican security services. The plot, which was first reported by Axios in November, was orchestrated in part by an undercover Quds Force officer stationed in Caracas, one of the sources said.
Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... -based Hezbollah, which is closely allied with Tehran, has long operated in Latin America, often generating revenue for its global operations by participating in illicit smuggling networks and occasionally orchestrating terrorist attacks.
Still, while US officials broadly hold that Hezbollah maintains a permanent presence in Latin America, there is significant debate within the intelligence community regarding how robust that presence is.
Some have characterized the group’s fundraising operations in the region as well-organized and hierarchical, while others argue that some financial activities ascribed to Hezbollah are in fact a function of donations and remittances from Latin America’s sizeable Lebanese diaspora that make their way to Hezbollah-linked individuals by happenstance.
"In my view, Hezbollah leadership does not micromanage every criminal scheme," said de la Torre, the retired CIA officer, "but it does authorize and benefit from a global facilitation architecture that includes Latin America."
[IsraelTimes] C5N, a highly popular Argentine news channel, has fired its US correspondent, Silvina Sterin Pensel, after a series of posts on social media, in which she called for the expulsion of Israeli citizens visiting Argentina.
Last week, Pensel accused Israelis of “genocide” and tweeted, “Get Out Of Argentina,” seemingly in reference to conspiracy theories that spread in Argentina, alleging Israeli tourists had started a wildfire in the Patagonia region.
Those claims were later found to be unfounded, prompting condemnations from Jewish leaders and public officials.
A C5N source told Clarin, an Argentine newspaper, that Pensel’s “radicalized ideas and fanaticism have no place in our space.” The news channel’s decision came after Patricia Bullrich, an Argentine senator and former minister of security, publicly called Pensel’s comments “antisemitic.”
”Know your place, reporter. You aren’t connected enough to have opinions in public.”
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/25/2026 4:05 Comments ||
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#3
Tons of Nazis escaped to Argentina after the war. Most of the crew of the Graf Spee simply started walking inland until they found a farm to work on, found a nice girl and never went home.
#4
Plenty of European Jews found refuge from the Nazis in Central and South America before the war, and even more fled there afterward. Their children went to the same European schools as the children of the former Nazis — all were careful not to discuss what Papa did during the war, I was told, not knowing who’d been on the other side.
[IsraelTimes] A Hamas delegation led by senior politburo official Khalil al-Hayya met with Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin in Istanbul today, Turkish media reports.
The group discussed the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, the state-run Anadolu Agency reports, including plans to increase the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip and the reopening of the Rafah Crossing.
The report adds that the Hamas delegation thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his country’s role in upholding the ceasefire and for “Ankara’s increasingly prominent role in the plan’s second phase.”
[IsraelTimes] Lawyers for New York City are investigating an event that sold merchandise in support of terrorist groups, a spokesperson at the New York City Council says.
Vendors sold keychains, stickers and pins in support of US-designated terrorist groups during a fundraiser at the Muslim American Society
…the Moslem American Society is yet another tentacle of the Muslim Brotherhood in America, founded in 1993 in Illinois. They’ve held a joint conference annually with the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) — another Muslim Brotherhood organization — since 2002, and were designated a terrorist organization by the UAE along with a slew of other Muslim Brotherhood orgs in 2014…
youth center in Brooklyn last weekend, in an incident first reported by The Times of Israel.
The merchandise had the logos of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and images of the late terrorist leaders Yahya Sinwar of Hamas and Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah.
Other items said “Death to the IDF” and “Let’s go bomb Tel Aviv,” showed PFLP plane hijacker Leila Khaled, or had inverted red triangles, a Hamas symbol.
The New York Post reports that the Muslim American Society’s New York branch has received $265,000 in discretionary funds from the New York City Council since 2023.
A spokesperson for New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin tells The New York Post that the council will block $80,000 in funds to the Muslim American Society pending an investigation by city lawyers, and may ban future funding to the group.
“The City Council has zero tolerance for violations of our standards,” the spokesperson says. “Funding to this organization is being paused pending a comprehensive internal review. Any nonprofit found to be supporting organizations that threaten the United States government is unacceptable and incompatible with City Council funding.”
[IsraelNationalNews] Officials in Jerusalem have expressed anger toward US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who is pressuring Israel to open the Rafah crossing before the return of the final hostage, Ran Gvili.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, sharply criticized Witkoff in a conversation with Ynet: "Witkoff pushed to bring our major rival, Turkey, to the border. The clock is ticking backward toward a confrontation with Turkey, which would pose a real danger to our security."
Kan 11 News reported that Israeli officials were caught off guard by the announcement regarding the opening of the Rafah crossing and intend to demand explanations from envoys Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The Security Cabinet is scheduled to convene on Sunday, where it is expected to approve the crossing's opening and discuss recent developments in Iran.
The visit by Witkoff and Kushner - who landed in Israel on Saturday - was not planned in advance. It was arranged at the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the announcement of the crossing's opening as part of President Trump's launch of the "Board of Peace."
[IsraelTimes] Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has gone into hiding in a Tehran bunker, according to the opposition-affiliated Iran International news site, as the country prepares for a possible US attack amid heightened tensions over the brutal crackdown of protests earlier this month.
According to the report, which cites “information received” by the opposition news site, Khamenei went underground after senior officials assessed an “increased risk of a potential US attack,” as the US moves significant military forces into the region.
The report adds that the supreme leader’s bunker is fortified, and contains a system of “interconnected tunnels.”
While Khamenei is in hiding, his third-born son, Masoud Khamenei, has taken over day-to-day operations in his father’s office and is serving as the “main channel for communication” with government leaders, the report says.
A game of Marco Polo between him, Israel and Trump? Where he broadcasts anti-____ speeches from hiding? Mixed with a game of 20 Questions played by INTEL & the MSM.
Will Trump quote Joe Louis from 84 years ago?
"He can run, but he can't Hide".
All mixed in with the Biblical warning from: Jonah 1:3 (KJV).
However you look at it.
It is clear a majority of the Iranian people are fed-up with the Supreme Leader's 610 AD murderous, religious style of rule & evil.
#10
I wish I would have monitored Gulf traffic previous to the crisis to get a sense of normal.
Guide to Flightradar24: Its History, Tracking, and How to Use It The platform encompasses a wide range of flight tracking data, such as flight details like origins and destinations, flight numbers, aircraft types, positions, altitudes, headings, and speeds. Moreover, it offers additional features like time-lapse replays of past flights and access to historical flight data categorized by airline, aircraft, aircraft type, geographic area, or airport.
[IsraelTimes] Footage shows Basij forces opening fire on peaceful protesters, as state officials appear on public television to threaten anti-regime ‘terrorists’ to stay home
The bloodiest crackdown on dissent since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution is slowly coming into focus, despite authorities cutting off the Islamic Theocratic Republic from the internet and much of the wider world.
Cities and towns smell of smoke as fire-damaged mosques and government offices line streets. Banks have been torched, their ATMs smashed. Officials estimate the damage to be at least $125 million, according to an News Agency that Dare Not be Named tally of reports by the state-run IRNA news agency from over 20 cities.
The number of dead demonstrators reported by activists continues to swell. Activists warn it shows 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 JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... engaging in the same tactics it has used for decades, but at an unprecedented scale — firing from rooftops on demonstrators, shooting birdshot into crowds and sending cycle of violence-riding paramilitary Revolutionary Guard volunteers in to beat and detain those who can’t escape.
"The vast majority of protesters were peaceful. The video footage shows crowds of people — including children and families — chanting, dancing around bonfires, marching on their streets," said Raha Bahreini, of Amnesty International. "The authorities have opened fire unlawfully."
The killing of peaceful protesters — as well as the threat of mass executions — has been cited as a red line for military action by US President Donald Trump ...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania... . An American aircraft carrier and warships are approaching the Mideast, possibly allowing Trump to launch another attack on Iran after bombing its nuclear enrichment sites last year. That risks igniting a new Mideast war.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... did not respond to detailed questions from the AP regarding the suppression of the demonstrations.
PROTESTS OVER RIAL SPIRAL
The demonstrations began December 28 at Tehran’s historic Grand Bazaar, initially over the collapse of Iran’s currency, the rial, then spread across the country.
Tensions went kaboom! on January 8, with demonstrations called for by Iran’s exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi. Witnesses in Tehran told the AP before authorities cut internet and phone communications that they saw tens of thousands of demonstrators on the streets.
As communications failed, gunfire echoed through Tehran.
"Many witnesses said they had never seen such a large number of protesters on the streets," said Bahar Saba of Human Rights Watch. "Iranian authorities have repeatedly shown they have no answers other than bullets and brutal repression to people taking to the streets."
Ali Akbar Pourjamshidian, a deputy interior minister speaking on state TV Wednesday, acknowledged the violence began in earnest on January 8.
"More than 400 cities were involved," he said.
By January 9, Revolutionary Guard Gen. Hossein Yekta, previously identified as leading plainclothes units of the force, went on Iranian state TV and warned "mothers and fathers" to keep their children home.
"Tonight you all must be vigilant. Tonight is the night for keeping mosques, all bases everywhere filled with ’Hezbollahi,’" Yekta said, using a word for "followers of God" that carries the connotation of fervent supporters of Iran’s theocracy.
Already weakened by the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June, the authorities decided to fully employ violence to end the demonstrations, experts said.
"I think the regime viewed it as this was a moment of existential threat and that they could either allow it to play out and allow the protests to build and allow foreign powers to increase their rhetoric and increase their demands on Iran," said Afshon Ostovar, an expert on the Revolutionary Guard and professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,.
"Or they could turn out the lights, kill as many people as necessary ... and hope they could get away with it. And I think that’s what they ultimately did."
BASIJ KEY IN DISRUPTING PROTESTS
In Iran, one of the main ways the theocracy can squash demonstrations is through the Basij, the Guard’s volunteer arm.
Mosques in Iran include facilities for the Basij. Guard Gen. Heydar Baba Ahmadi was quoted by the semiofficial Mehr news agency in 2024 as estimating "79% of Basij resistance bases are located in mosques and 5% in other holy places."
Iranian state media repeatedly has aired images of mosques damaged in the protests without exploring their links to the Basij.
"Most neighborhood Basij bases are co-located with mosques and most neighborhood Basij leaders are associated with the mosque leadership," Ostovar said, adding that demonstrators "going after regime targets" associated with repression would have considered them "a legitimate part of it."
Videos show Basij holding long guns, batons and pellet guns. Anti-riot police can be seen wearing helmets and body armor, carrying assault rifles and submachine guns.
The videos show police firing shotguns into crowds, something authorities deny despite corpses showing wounds consistent with metal birdshot. Scores have reportedly suffered blinding eye wounds from birdshot — something seen in the protests around the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini.
Iran’s semiofficial ILNA news agency reported that Tehran’s Farabi Eye Hospital, the premier clinic for eye injuries, called in "all current and retired doctors" to help those injured.
We "received accounts that the security forces were just firing relentlessly at protesters," said Bahreini of Amnesty International.
"They’re not just targeting one or two people to create a climate of terror for people to disperse ... but just relentlessly firing at thousands of protesters and chasing after them, even as they were fleeing, so that more people were just collapsing to the ground with severe gunshot wounds."
CASUALTIES GROW AS CRACKDOWN INTENSIFIES
For two weeks, Iran offered no overall casualty figures. Then on Wednesday, the government said 3,117 people were killed, including 2,427 civilians and security forces. That left another 690 dead that Pourjamshidian identified as "terrorists."
That conflicts with figures from the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which put the corpse count on Saturday at 5,137, based on activists inside Iran verifying fatalities against public records and witness statements. It said 4,834 were demonstrators, 208 were government-affiliated personnel, 54 were children and 41 were civilians not participating in protests.
Some opposition sources have cited far higher figures, at 12,000 dead or more.
Death tolls in Iran have long been inflated or deflated for political reasons. But the fact that Iran’s theocracy offered any corpse count — and gave a number beyond any other political unrest to strike the country in the modern era — underlines the scale of what happened.
It also provides a justification for the ongoing mass arrest campaign and internet shutdown. State media reports dozens to hundreds of people detained daily.
Pourjamshidian also gave an extensive list of vandalism from the protests and crackdown, including 750 banks, 414 government buildings, 600 ATMs and hundreds of vehicles that sustained damage.
Meanwhile,
...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... uncertainty looms for Iran’s theocracy over what Trump may or may not do.
Traditionally, Iranians hold memorial services for their late loved ones 40 days after their deaths — meaning the country could see renewed demonstrations around February 17. Online videos from Behesht-e Zahra, the massive cemetery on the outskirts of Tehran, show mourners chanting: "Death to Khamenei!"
Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by the AP show large numbers of cars daily at Behesht-e Zahra’s southern reaches, where those killed in the demonstrations are being buried.
Elaheh Mohammadi, a journalist at Tehran’s pro-reform newspaper Ham Mihan, recently noted it had been shut by authorities. She said journalists were working on stories about Behesht-e Zahra they weren’t able to publish.
"We send out a message to let people know we’re still alive," Mohammadi wrote online. "The city smells of death."
"Hard days have passed and everyone is stunned; a whole country is in mourning, a whole country is holding back tears, a whole country has a lump in its throat."
The figure, quoted to Time by two unnamed senior officials in the country’s Ministry of Health, is the highest estimated death toll so far. It is far larger than the toll of 3,117 that the Iranian government publicized in recent days.
Time says it is unable to independently verify the figures but that the estimate of 30,000 accords with reports from doctors and other first responders on the ground during the protests.
The magazine reports that, according to the health officials, 30,000 people were killed just between January 8 and 9, in the heat of weeks-long anti-regime protests that spread across the country. Time cites the officials as saying that the country used 18-wheeler trucks instead of ambulances at that time, and ran out of body bags.
More numbers:
Activists raise number of protesters arrested in Iran to nearly 41,000, put death toll at 5,200
[IsraelTimes] The number of people arrested and killed during the mass wave of anti-regime protests that raged in Iran earlier this month has continued to rise, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which puts the death toll at 5,200 and arrest figures at nearly 41,000.
Figures have trickled out of Iran despite the now two-plus week long internet blackout, and while there have been no further demonstrations in Iran for days, activists say the number of dead and detained protesters is expected to increase.
The group’s figures have been accurate in previous unrest and rely on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths. That death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest there in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran’s government offered its first death toll on Wednesday, saying 3,117 people were killed. It said 2,427 were civilians and security forces, and labeled the rest as “terrorists.” In the past, Iran’s theocracy has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.
The activist agency on Saturday also increased the total number of people arrested to 40,879 — a significant jump from the more than 27,700 people in its previous update.
#1
The true number will be staggering. They are certainly, going house to house like Hutu’s. All the human rights activists that are actually just communists will be permanently discredited.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/25/2026 8:00 Comments ||
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#2
It’s been said they are holding the bodies to be distributed if/when Israel/US attack so as to blame them.
#3
They can try that but the strikes won’t be in civilian areas and no small arms will be used. Once the regime has fallen, the bodies will be DNA tested and the families will tell us the story. Maybe they asked Somalis for a good plan.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/25/2026 16:22 Comments ||
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BREAKING; IRAN Vows to 'Sink & Humble' USS Abraham Lincoln and it's strike group with Hypersonic Strikes as US Armada Enters IRAN's Backyard
Iranian officials have issued stark warnings against the approaching USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, claiming the capability to… pic.twitter.com/DGCgSZ5q3W
BREAKING; IRAN Vows to 'Sink & Humble' USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group with Hypersonic Strikes as US Armada Enters IRAN's Backyard
Good luck with that.
Iranian officials have issued stark warnings against the approaching USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, claiming the capability to sink it using advanced hypersonic missiles if provoked.
Senior officials, including from the IRGC, have warned that any US aggression would trigger an "all-out war" and that Iran has its "finger on the trigger." They specifically boast of using hypersonic missiles (such as variants of the Fattah-1 system) to "sink and humble" the Abraham Lincoln and its escorts in Iran's "backyard."
[IsraelTimes] Gen. Mohammad Pakpour warns Israel and US ‘to avoid any miscalculation,’ claiming the Islamic Republic ‘stands more ready than ever’
Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a force which was key in putting down recent nationwide protests in a crackdown that left thousands dead, is "more ready than ever, finger on the trigger," its commander said Saturday, as US warships headed toward the Middle East.
Nournews, a news outlet close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported on its Telegram channel that the commander, Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, warned the United States and Israel "to avoid any miscalculation."
"The Islamic Revolutionary Guards and dear 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 JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... stand more ready than ever, finger on the trigger, to execute the orders and directives of the Commander-in-Chief," Nournews quoted Pakpour as saying.
Tension remains high between Iran and the US in the wake of a bloody crackdown on protests that began on December 28, triggered by the collapse of Iran’s currency, the rial, and swept the country for about two weeks.
TRUMP’S WARNINGS
US President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... has repeatedly warned Tehran, setting two red lines for the use of military force: the killing of peaceful demonstrators and the mass execution of people arrested in the protests.
Trump has repeatedly said Iran halted the execution of 800 people detained in the protests. He has not elaborated on the source of the claim — which Iran’s top prosecutor, Mohammad Movahedi, strongly denied No, no! Certainly not! Friday in comments carried by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency.
On Thursday, Trump said aboard Air Force One that the US was moving warships toward Iran "just in case" he wants to take action.
"We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it," Trump said.
A US Navy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said Thursday that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships traveling with it were in the Indian Ocean.
Trump also mentioned the multiple rounds of talks American officials had with Iran over its nuclear program before Israel launched a 12-day war against the Islamic Theocratic Republic in June, which also saw US warplanes bomb Iranian nuclear sites. He threatened Iran with military action that would make earlier US strikes against Iranian uranium enrichment sites "look like peanuts."
"They should have made a deal before we hit them," Trump said.
AIRLINE JITTERS
The tension has led at least two European airlines to suspend some flights to the wider region.
Air La Belle France cancelled two return flights from Gay Paree to Dubai over the weekend. The airline said it was "closely following developments in the Middle East in real time and continuously monitors the geopolitical situation in the territories served and overflown by its aircraft in order to ensure the highest level of flight safety and security." It said it would resume its service to Dubai later Saturday.
Luxair said it had postponed its Saturday flight from Luxembourg to Dubai by 24 hours "in light of ongoing tensions and insecurity affecting the region’s airspace, and in line with measures taken by several other airlines."
It told the AP it was closely monitoring the situation "and a decision on whether the flight will operate tomorrow will be taken based on the ongoing assessment."
Arrivals information at Dubai’s international airport also showed the cancellation of Saturday flights from Amsterdam by Dutch carriers KLM and Transavia. The airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Some KLM flights to Tel Aviv in Israel were also canceled on Friday and Saturday, according to online flight trackers.
RISING DEATH TOLL
Although there have been no further demonstrations in Iran for days, the corpse count reported by activists has continued to rise as information trickles out despite the most comprehensive internet blackout in Iran’s history, which has now lasted more than two weeks.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Saturday put the corpse count at 5,137, with the number expected to increase. More than 27,700 people have been arrested, it said.
The group’s figures have been accurate in previous unrest and rely on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths. That corpse count exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest there in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran’s government offered its first corpse count on Wednesday, saying 3,117 people were killed. It said 2,427 were civilians and security forces, and labeled the rest as "terrorists." In the past, Iran’s theocracy has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.
#3
When we transmitted Hormuz escorting tankers, it used to mean a couple of hours at General Quarters stations. This was after Roberts got mined but before Saddam invaded. We relaxed our posture over time so as not to fatigue the crew. It’s pretty sweaty and boring to be at GQ. The crew members would sort of like this to happen quick if it’s going to happen. In that way they are in total solidarity with Iranian civilians.
If one missile is released, there will be no Iranian navy within 4 hours. Praying Mantis was restrained by the idea of proportionality. It will be the release of 40 years of forty years of hate with no civilian political restraint. It will be Toby Keith style.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/25/2026 8:14 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Immensely stirring video the Iranians should revisit...
-The SDF organization has brought in reinforcements from PKK terrorist militias from the Qandil Mountains to Hasakah Province.
- The SDF organization continues to carry out widespread violations in areas under its control through arrests, forced displacement, and torture against anyone who opposes its policies. More at the link
Syria’s government and Kurdish forces on Saturday extended their truce by 15 days, with Damascus saying it was to support the US transfer of Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group (IS or ISIS) detainees from Syria to Iraq.
Several sources had earlier told AFP the truce would be prolonged, with a Syrian official in Damascus citing the same reason.
In a statement, the Syrian defense ministry said the 15-day extension would take effect at 11 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Saturday.
"The extension of the ceasefire comes in support of the American operation to transfer Islamic State detainees from SDF prisons to Iraq," the statement added, referring to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The SDF also confirmed the extension, saying it was reached "through international mediation, while dialogue with Damascus continues."
"Our forces affirm their commitment to the agreement and their dedication to respecting it, which contributes to de-escalation, the protection of civilians, and the creation of the necessary conditions for stability," it said in a statement.
Damascus and the SDF had initially agreed to a four-day ceasefire on Tuesday after Kurdish forces relinquished swathes of territory to government troops, who also sent reinforcements to a Kurdish stronghold in the northeast.
Three sources, including a Kurdish source and a Syrian official in Damascus, had told AFP earlier on Saturday that the ceasefire would be extended.
ISIS TRANSFER
After the SDF lost large areas to government forces, Washington said it would transfer 7,000 ISIS detainees to prisons in Iraq.
Europeans were among the 150 senior ISIS detainees who were the first to be transferred on Wednesday, and two Iraqi officials told AFP that a second batch of "up to 1,000 ISIS detainees" was being sent on Saturday.
Ottoman Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country is a key backer of Damascus but hostile to the SDF, had said during a TV interview Friday that in light of the ISIS prisoner transfers, "extending the ceasefire for a while longer might be considered."
The transfer is expected to take several days.
ISIS swept across Syria and Iraq in 2014, committing massacres and other atrocities before ultimately being territorially defeated by the SDF and a US-led coalition.
The truce between Damascus and the Kurds is part of a new understanding over Kurdish-majority areas in Hasakeh province and a broader deal to integrate the Kurds’ administration into the state.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s Islamist forces toppled longtime ruler Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... in 2024.
The new authorities are seeking to extend state control across Syria, resetting international ties including with the United States, now a key ally.
The Kurdish source said the SDF submitted a proposal to the authorities through US envoy Tom Barrack that would have the government managing border crossings — a key Damascus demand.
It also proposes that Damascus would "allocate part of the economic resources — particularly revenue from border crossings and oil — to the Kurdish-majority areas," the source added.
Earlier this month, the Syrian army recaptured oil fields, including the country’s largest, while advancing against Kurdish forces.
On Saturday, Syria’s government freed at least 126 minors being held in a prison for ISIS detainees in Raqa province in northern Syria after taking over the facility from Kurdish forces.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/25/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1771 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria/HTS
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
...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 
...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 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
