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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Top Iranian officials told Khamenei to allow US nuke talks or risk fall of regime – NYT
2025-04-12
[IsraelTimes] In rare coordinated effort, officials said to have warned Iran’s supreme leader that military threats from US and Israel are real, and country faces massive unrest if it goes to war

In a rare intervention, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...>
 was urged by his brass hats to allow negotiations with the United States on the regime’s nuclear program or risk the fall of the Islamic Theocratic Republic, The New York Times

...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
 reported Friday.

The US 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 Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
are set to meet in Oman on Saturday for talks over Tehran’s rogue nuclear program.

According to The New York Times report, which cited two senior Iranian officials who are familiar with the details, Khamenei held a meeting last month attended by heads of the judiciary and parliament. Those officials, in what the sources described as an unusual, coordinated effort, pressured Khamenei into accepting talks with Washington, even direct ones.

They told Khamenei that the threat of military action by the US and Israel against its nuclear sites was serious.

"If Iran refused talks or if the negotiations failed, the officials told Mr. Khamenei, military strikes on Iran’s two main nuclear sites, Natanz and Fordow, would be inevitable," the sources said, as reported by the Times.

The country, already in economic shambles, would be forced to respond, but then would also likely be plunged into domestic unrest if it were to go to war, they said.

The combination of such events would amount to an existential threat to the Islamic Theocratic Republic, the officials reportedly told Khamenei.

The sources said that Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, an ex-Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps chief and current conservative head of Parliament, told Khamenei that a war combined with a domestic economic implosion could quickly get out of control.

They also quoted President Masoud Pezeshkian as telling Khamenei that managing the country through its current crises was not tenable. The report points to power cuts that threaten to shutter factories and water shortages in the central city of Yazd, which saw schools and government offices closed this week.

Iran previously rejected talks but has since relented amid US President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
’s threats.

Hossein Mousavian, a former diplomat who served on Iran’s nuclear negotiating team on a 2015 deal and is now a visiting fellow at Princeton University, told The New York Times that the change illustrated that preserving the regime was Khamenei’s main priority.
Hossein Mousavian, a former diplomat who served on Iran’s nuclear negotiating team on a 2015 deal and is now a visiting fellow at Princeton University?
Signing him on was a real triumph, donchaknow. Their NearEast history and international relations students will be getting the story straight from the horse’s mouth. Wasn’t it Yale who had a former Talib minister matriculate with a full scholarship, despite being illiterate in both Pashto and English? Such an opportunity for his fellow students, wherever he was!
"Mr. Khamenei’s turnaround demonstrates his long-held core principle that ’preserving the regime is the most necessary of the necessities,’" Mousavian said.

While Khamenei relented and agreed to talks, he also imposed his own conditions, the report said.

Citing three Iranian officials, the NYT said that Khamenei agreed to discuss strict monitoring for the nuclear program and a significant reduction of the enrichment of uranium. However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
 he has said that Iran’s missile program is off limits, regarding it as being part of Iran’s defenses. The sources said that was a "deal breaker."

However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
 the report also said that Iran was "open to discussing its regional policies" and support for its terror proxies like Hamas
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
, Hezbollah and the Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
More from the Times of Israel:
Then, there are the expectations of the two sides. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi maintains the negotiations will begin as indirect talks, likely with Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi passing messages between Tehran and US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. Trump has maintained the talks will be direct. While not a major roadblock, it signals the challenge the negotiations face — particularly after years of indirect talks during the Biden administration went nowhere.

And while the US side can offer sanctions relief for Iran’s beleaguered economy, it remains unclear just how much Iran will be willing to concede. Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran could only maintain a small stockpile of uranium enriched to 3.67%. Today, Tehran’s stockpile could allow it to build multiple nuclear weapons if it so chooses, and it has some material enriched up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. Judging from negotiations since Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the deal in 2018, Iran will likely ask to keep enriching uranium up to at least 20%.

One thing it won’t do is give up its program entirely. That makes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal of a so-called Libyan solution — “you go in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision, American execution” — unworkable. Iran routinely threatens Israel with destruction and is the main backer of several proxy terror groups attacking Israel, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Iranians, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have held up what ultimately happened to the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was killed with his own gun by rebels in the country’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising, as a warning about what can happen when you trust the United States.

Already, a top adviser for Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, has warned what could happen if the US continues to threaten Tehran, including Iran expelling inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency and ending cooperation with the UN watchdog.

“The transfer of enriched material to a secure location could also be considered,” he added, opening the door again to Iran having secret, undeclared nuclear sites as it did when the crisis over its program began over 20 years ago.

But Majid Takht-e Ravanch, a deputy Iranian foreign minister, offered a more positive note on Friday.

“If the American side refrains from raising unrelated issues and demands — and abandons threats and intimidation — there is a good opportunity to reach an agreement,” Takht-e Ravanch said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon tells Iranian flight it can’t land, after IDF’s Hezbollah smuggling claim
2025-02-14
[IsraelTimes] Israel accused Iran of sending cash to Lebanese terror group via passenger flights; shortly thereafter, Mahar Air flight reportedly denied permission to land in Beirut

Lebanese aviation authorities refused to permit an Iranian passenger flight to land at Beirut’s international airport on Thursday, local news reported, following a statement by the Israeli military that 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...
has been using such flights to smuggle cash to the Hezbollah terror group.

Dozens of Lebanese nationals were stranded at the international airport in Tehran after Lebanese aviation authorities informed the Iranian Mahar Air airline that its flight to Beirut would not be permitted to land, Lebanese news channel LBCI reported.

Footage circulating on social media purported to show a small band of pro-Hezbollah protesters blocking roads near the Beirut airport in protest of the authorities’ move.
"Show us the money!"
In a post to X on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces’ Arabic-language spokesperson, Col. Avichay Adraee, said cash has been smuggled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to Hezbollah using civilian flights.

The money is being used by the Iran-backed terror group to rebuild itself, according to the IDF.

Hezbollah was devastated by a brief all-out war with Israel last fall, which came following almost a year of near-daily rocket and drone attacks that Hezbollah began launching, unprovoked, on October 8, 2023, in solidarity with fellow terror group Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
, which had just attacked Israel from 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...
 Strip.

Adraee said that the IDF has been in contact with a US-led committee supervising the November 27 ceasefire, which ended the war, and was regularly updating the committee with "relevant information in order to foil these transfers."

Despite the efforts, the IDF spokesperson said, some of the money transfers were likely carried out successfully.

"The IDF will not allow the organization to get stronger, and will use all the tools at its disposal to enforce the understandings in the ceasefire agreement, for the security of the citizens of Israel," Adraee added.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran unveils new underground naval base in Persian Gulf amid tension with US, Israel
2025-01-19
[IsraelTimes] State TV says base is ‘built at depth of 500 meters,’ contains vessels with long-range missiles capable of ‘destroying US warships’; Reveal comes days before Trump takes office

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...
unveiled an underground naval missile base at an undisclosed Gulf location on Saturday, state TV said, two days before the start of US President-elect Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
’s second term in the White House.

It was unveiled at a time when tension with Washington is widely expected to rise. Iranian leaders are concerned that Trump might empower Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike Iran’s nuclear sites, while tightening US sanctions on its oil industry.

During his first term, Trump pursued a policy of "maximum pressure" against Iran, abandoning a landmark nuclear agreement and reimposing sweeping sanctions.

Trump also oversaw the killing of a top Revolutionary Guards general, Qasem Soleimani, in a dronezap on Iraq.

State television showed Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps chief General Hossein Salami visiting the secret base during war games. He said it was one of several built underground for vessels capable of launching long-range missiles and carry out distant warfare.

"We assure the great nation of Iran that their young people are capable of coming out honorable and victorious from a battle on the seas against enemies big and small," Salami said.

State television said the base was built at a depth of 500 meters (1,650 feet) somewhere in the Gulf, showed tunnels with long rows of what it said were a new version of Taregh-class radar-evading speedboats which can launch cruise missiles, and said that some of the vessels were "capable of destroying US warships and destroyers".

[X]

Earlier this month, Iran started military exercises that are due to last two months and have already included war games in which the Revolutionary Guards defended nuclear installations in Natanz against mock attacks by missiles and drones.

Iran, which says its ballistic missiles are an important deterrent and retaliatory force against the US and Israel, has in the past unveiled several "missile cities," underground missile production facilities with tunnels large enough to hold large trucks and multiple production areas.

Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and denies any intention to develop atomic weapons. In recent years, however, it has increased its manufacturing of enriched uranium, and it is the only non-nuclear weapons state to possess uranium enriched to 60 percent, according to nuclear watchdog the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency.

That level is well on the way to the 90 percent enrichment required for an atomic bomb.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran TV shows missile base after paramilitary march against ‘threats’, army holds air defence exercises
2025-01-12


[IsraelTimes] Iranian state TV shows the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps touring an underground missile base used in an attack against Israel, hours after fighters marched through Tehran.

The footage of the missile base at an undisclosed location “in the mountains” and the parade by paramilitary Basij volunteers come after the weakening of Iran’s allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, during wars with Israel.

They also come days before US President-elect Donald Trump is due to take office. During his first term, he oversaw the killing of Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Iraq, and reinstated sanctions on Tehran after pulling out from a landmark nuclear deal.

State TV showed Guards chief Hossein Salami visiting the missile base, which the report says has “dozens” of different types of missiles and was used during Iran’s second ever direct attack on regional foe Israel late last year.

Iran drills air defenses, touts fortified ‘missile city’ in challenge to Israel, Trump
[IsraelTimes] IRGC general claims arms production up in speech from underground weapons plant, days after Israel reveals it destroyed underground Iranian missile plant in Syria

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...
was holding air defense exercises Saturday, state media reported, as the country braced for more friction with Israel and the United States under incoming US president Donald Trump
...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania...
The war games came a day after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps released footage of what it called an underground "missile city," claiming that weapon production had ramped up, contrary to Israeli claims.

Iranian leaders are thought to be readying for the possibility that Trump could empower Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attack Iran’s nuclear sites, while further tightening US sanctions on its oil industry through his "maximum pressure" policy.

"In these exercises,...defense systems will practice the fight against air, missile and electronic warfare threats in real battlefield conditions... to protect the country’s skies and sensitive and vital areas," Iranian state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said.

The drills were part of two-months-long exercises launched on January 4 which have already included war games in which the elite Revolutionary Guards defended key nuclear installations in Natanz against mock attacks by missiles and drones, state media said.

Iran’s military has said it was using new drones and missiles in the exercises.

On Friday, Iran released video showing IRGC Commander-in-Chief Major General Hossein Salami visiting an underground missile production facility with tunnels large enough to hold large trucks and multiple production areas.

"Maybe the enemy thought that our production power has stagnated," he said in the televised speech. "But the growth rate of our missile power" is rising.

State-linked media claimed that only 10 percent of the facility had been shown.

The structure in the video appeared to bear similarities to an underground missile production facility in Syria that Israel has alleged was built by Iran. Earlier this month, the Israel Defense Forces revealed that it had sent a team of commandos into the heavily fortified facility in September, who managed to lay explosives inside the plant built deep inside a mountain, largely destroying it.

The raid was one of several setbacks suffered by Iran in recent months, including Israel dismantling the leadership and arsenal of client terror group Hezbollah, an Israeli strike on Iranian air defense targets and the loss of ally Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
 in Syria.

While Iranian officials have downplayed Iran’s setbacks, an Iranian general, Behrouz Esbati, who was reportedly based in Syria, said in a speech circulated on social media that Iran had "badly lost" in Syria. Rooters could not verify the recording.

Trump in 2018 withdrew from a deal struck by his predecessor Barack Obama
How much damage could he do in four years?... Eight, then...
in 2015 in which Iran agreed to curb uranium enrichment, which can yield material for nuclear weapons, in return for the relaxation of US and UN economic sanctions.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel says it nabbed large trove of Iranian arms destined for West Bank attack
2024-11-28
[IsraelTimes] Shipment on way to terror operatives in Jenin included claymores, RPGs and rockets; Defense Ministry announces plans to build fence along Jordanian border

The Shin Bet recently foiled an attempt by 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...
to smuggle large amounts of advanced weapons, including rockets, to terror operatives in the West Bank for use in attacks on Israeli targets, the security agency revealed Wednesday.

In a joint operation, the Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces captured a shipment of advanced weapons destined for terror operatives in the Jenin area, the organization said in a statement.

Later, a site where a large number of weapons from Iran had been buried was uncovered, the statement added.

The Shin Bet did not provide further details on where the weapons were hidden or where the shipment was captured.

Among the weapons captured were 40 "quality" claymore-type bombs and 33 makeshift claymores, along with remote detonation systems; six RPG launchers and 24 RPGs; three 107mm rockets; two 60mm mortar launchers and 20 mortars; six M16 assault rifles and one M4 rifle; seven sniper rifles; and 37 handguns.

According to the Shin Bet, two units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ special forces — Unit 4000 and Unit 18840 — were responsible for the plot.

Unit 4000 is the special operations division of the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization, headed by Jawad Ghafari; Unit 18840 is the special operations unit of the IRGC’s Quds Force in Syria, which is subordinate to the head of Iran’s clandestine Unit 840, Asghar Bakri.

The Shin Bet said it had identified renewed attempts to smuggle advanced weapons into the West Bank in recent months.

"The seized weapons are part of an ongoing Iranian campaign to destabilize security in the region, by arming terror cells in Judea and Samaria whose goal is to carry out attacks against Israeli citizens and IDF troops," a statement from the agency read.

The Shin Bet carried out similar operations intercepting Iranian weapons on their way to the West Bank in March as well as in August of last year.

Weapons smuggling is a constant challenge for Israel along its long, porous eastern border with Jordan. Unlike Israel’s other frontiers — with Egypt, Leb
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
 and Syria — the border with Jordan is largely open, often without significant fencing, and guarding is limited, making it an easy channel for large-scale smuggling.
Related:
Jenin: 2024-11-26 Two Palestinians shot dead in clash with IDF in West Bank town of Ya’bad
Jenin: 2024-11-22 Good Morning
Jenin: 2024-11-22 Nine Palestinian gunmen killed during two-day raid in Jenin area, IDF says
Related:
Unit 4000: 2024-03-27 IDF strikes Iran-linked operatives, assets in eastern Syria; more than 15 said killed
Related:
Unit 18840: 2024-03-27 IDF strikes Iran-linked operatives, assets in eastern Syria; more than 15 said killed
Link


Home Front: WoT
Iranian asset charged in plot to assassinate Trump, DOJ says
2024-11-08
[FoxNews] Justice Department unseals charges against Iranian asset

The Justice Department says it has thwarted an Iranian plot to kill President-elect Donald Trump in the weeks leading up to the election.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York City says an unnamed official in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had asked Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran, in September to "focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating, former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump."

"There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump.

"We have also charged and arrested two individuals who we allege were recruited as part of that network to silence and kill, on U.S. soil, an American journalist who has been a prominent critic of the regime," Garland added. "We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security."

The Justice Department says Shakeri, who remains at large and is believed to be living in Iran, "immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported in or about 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction."

"Shakeri has informed law enforcement that he was tasked on Oct. 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill President-elect Donald J. Trump," it added.
*Ring Ring* “Hello? Hello, can you hear me? I’m calling from America and I need to speak to a Mr. Shakeri — Mr. Farhad Shakeri? The Mossad says he lives at this phone number.”
“No, no — there is no Shakeri here. This is the Alavitabar household. We don’t know any Americans.”
“Voice match says you are Mr. Farhad Shakeri. The Mossad gave us recordings from your cell phone last week. You called your mother at 4:03 p.m. on Thursday, and then you spoke to your father’s second younger brother, Bakhtiar, on Friday after breakfast, at 10:17. Silver tongued devil, that one. He’s lying about that thing he promised, though, so don’t give him any money for it. *silence* So, Farhad — may I call you Farhad? I feel like we're already such good friends — tell us about this plot you were hired for, to kill Donald Trump.”
Trump was referred to in court filings as "Victim-4."

"According to Shakeri, during his meeting with IRGC Official-I on or about October 7, 2024, IRGC Official-I directed Shakeri to provide a plan within seven days to kill Victim-4. If Shakeri was unable to put forth a plan within that timeframe, IRGC Official-I continued, the IRGC would pause its plan to kill Victim-4 until after the U.S. Presidential elections, because IRGC Official-I assessed that Victim-4 would lose the election and, afterward, it would be easier to assassinate Victim-4," the documents said.
What, did the Justice Department send a delegation to Tehran to interview the guy in his kitchen? It’s the kind of thing the Mossad would do, to be sure, but it seems out of left field for the US Justice Department.
"[Shakeri] also stated he was tasked with surveilling two Jewish American citizens residing in New York City and offered $500,000 by an IRGC official for the murder of either victim. He was also tasked with targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka," the Justice Department added.

Federal prosecutors have also charged and arrested Carlisle Rivera, 49, of Brooklyn, New York; and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, New York, "in connection with their alleged involvement in a plot to murder a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin in New York."

A law enforcement source briefed on the investigation tells Fox News that the Iranian American is Masih Alinejad.
Ms Alinejad is an Iranian opposition activist and journalist for the VOA Persian News Service who has been living in exile in New York City. This is not the first Iranian plot against her…
"At Shakeri’s instruction, Loadholt and Rivera have spent months surveilling a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin residing in the United States (Victim-1). Victim-1 is an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime and has been the target of multiple prior plots for kidnapping and/or murder directed by the Government of Iran," the Justice Department said. "In exchange for Shakeri’s promise of $100,000, Rivera and Loadholt repeatedly sought to locate Victim-1 for murder."

Prosecutors say that during their efforts to locate and kill Alinejad, "Shakeri, Loadholt, and Rivera shared messages about their progress and photographs relating to their scheme.

"For example, in or about February 2024, Rivera and Loadholt messaged about an incoming payment from Shakeri, and then traveled to Fairfield University, where Victim-1 was scheduled to appear, and took photographs on campus," according to the Justice Department. "In one voice note, Shakeri told Rivera that Victim-1 spent most of her time in particular locations of her home, and told Rivera that ‘you just gotta have patience … You gotta wait and have patience to catch her either going in the house or coming out, or following her out somewhere and taking care of it. Don’t think about going in. In is a suicide move.’"

All three suspects are now facing charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering conspiracy, which carry maximum penalties of 10 to 20 years in prison.

Shakeri has also been charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and sanctions against the Government of Iran, which each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to prosecutors.

Interesting detail from CNN at 7:00 p.m ET: Shakeri is an Afghan national residing in Tehran.
From the Times of Israel after the midnight rollover, added to get it into the record:
Shakeri held the conversations with FBI agents because he was hoping to obtain a sentence reduction for a person who is imprisoned in the United States, it said.
Related:
Masih Alinejad 10/23/2024 US charges in absentia IRGC official, 3 others in plot to assassinate dissident journalist
Masih Alinejad 10/06/2024 Foiled attack on Chabad Athens offers glimpse into Iran’s anti-Jewish terror plots
Masih Alinejadstrong> 05/21/2024 'We Freely Dance and Celebrate on Your Dirty Grave'



Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
RUMINT: Khamenei suffers from a terminal illness, and internal battle for succession has already begun.
2024-10-27
[X]


BUT this is also out there as a response:
There is currently no confirmed report from the New York Times or other major outlets verifying that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is terminally ill or that there is an ongoing internal struggle over his succession. While Khamenei’s potential successors have been a topic of analysis, particularly following the recent death of a leading candidate, Ebrahim Raisi, this succession conversation has been speculative, focusing largely on Raisi and Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, as likely candidates.

Following Raisi’s death in May 2024, there has indeed been increased discussion and speculation about who might succeed Khamenei due to his advanced age, but no official statements have suggested that Khamenei is in critical health or that succession has officially commenced.

If new developments occur, they would likely receive significant coverage from reliable news sources.

more from the NY Times: Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, aged 85, is reportedly seriously ill.

His second oldest son, Mojtaba Khamenei, likely to succeed him when he dies.

J-POST on the story: The report noted that Khamenei's serious medical condition created a "quiet battle" over his succession. It also stated that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps would have a say in who would become the Ayatollah's successor....
Related:
Ali Khamenei 10/25/2024 Secret Iranian missile storage site exposed by anti-regime group amid mounting regional tensions
Ali Khamenei 10/22/2024 Fighting erupts in eastern DRC marking an end to ceasefire; M23 take control of Kalembe
Ali Khamenei 10/13/2024 Iran's nuclear sites under massive cyber attack

Related:
Ebrahim Raisi 10/01/2024 Ahmadinejad: 'Head of anti-Mossad unit - was a Mossad agent'
Ebrahim Raisi 09/29/2024 Hezbollah chief's death brings ground operation in Lebanon closer
Ebrahim Raisi 09/26/2024 Sources: Iran brokering Russia-Houthi talks on arming group with anti-ship missiles

Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Getcher Score Card Here! Can't tell the Players Widoutcher Scorecard!
2024-10-21
[Axios] How Israel decimated Hamas and Hezbollah leadership in three months

One by one, Israel has tracked, targeted and eliminated the leadership of its greatest regional enemies in a sprawling decapitation operation with little precedent in modern history.

Why it matters: The killing of Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar this past week capped an astonishing three-month streak in which a succession of top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, as well as several Iranian generals, were taken out by Israel.

The series of killings, a year after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, has dealt a crippling blow to the so-called "axis of resistance" Iran has been building, arming and funding for years.

  • While the death of Sinwar marked the most important symbolic victory, it was distinct in that it was not a targeted assassination — and not the product of a sophisticated operation or pinpoint secret intelligence.

Driving the news: One of Israel's top goals since the start of the war has been to kill the leaders of Hamas and any militants involved in the Oct. 7 attacks.

  • A special unit inside Israel's domestic intelligence service, the Shin Bet, was formed to do exactly that.

  • U.S. intelligence services and special operation units worked with the Israelis for months to hunt down Sinwar and his deputies, investing a huge amount of intelligence and operational resources.

  • Time and time again, the forces got close to Sinwar inside the Hamas tunnels in southern Gaza — but time and time again, he managed to evade them.

When Sinwar was finally caught, it was pure coincidence.

  • The Israel Defense Forces unit that closed in on the house he was hiding in didn't know the identity of the militants with whom they were exchanging fire.

  • The 19-year-old soldier who killed the most wanted man in the Middle East only discovered his historic accomplishment in hindsight.

Flashback: As the fighting with Hezbollah on the northern border escalated in the days after Oct. 7, Israel also started targeting senior commanders of the Iranian-backed Shia militia.

  • Israel took out several Hamas and Hezbollah commanders in the first six months of the war. But a major breakthrough came in mid-July with the killing of the commander of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike in southern Gaza.

  • It was the first time Israel had managed to kill one of the architects of the Oct. 7 attacks.

Two weeks later, Israel conducted an airstrike in Beirut and killed Hezbollah's top military commander, Fuad Shukr — the biggest blow to the militia since Israel's assassination of its previous military commander, Imad Mughniyeh, in 2008.

  • Another Israeli assassination was carried out less than a day later — this time in Tehran, where a bomb exploded in an Iranian government guesthouse and killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

  • In mid-September, Israel launched an unprecedented clandestine attack against Hezbollah — remotely detonating thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies.

  • The explosions left thousands of Hezbollah members killed or wounded, among them several senior officials.

Over the next few days, Israel carried out a series of unprecedented airstrikes that destroyed large parts of Hezbollah's rocket and missile arsenals and killed many of its senior and mid-level commanders, including its head of military operations, Ibrahim Aki, and a dozen of the elite Radwan Force's top commanders.

Zoom in: The attacks reached their height in late September with the assassination of Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah in his bunker with many of his senior deputies.

  • Among those killed were Hezbollah's southern front commander, Ali Karaki, and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander in Lebanon, Brigadier Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan.

  • It took less than a week for the IDF to assassinate Nasrallah's successor, Hashim Safi al-Din, in an airstrike on Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters.

  • The militia's head of intelligence, Hussein Hazimah, known as "Mortada," was also in that bunker. Neither of their bodies has been found to this day.

The big picture: The series of assassinations and other military operations in the region helped restore much of Israel's deterrence, which was shattered on Oct. 7.

  • Israeli officials say most of Hamas' and Hezbollah's military leadership has been eliminated, and much of the political leadership is dead or on the run.

  • Still, while the decapitations have made it far more difficult for Hamas and Hezbollah to function, the groups are far from destroyed or willing to surrender.
The final bit is a record of Jake Sullivan fretting that the stupid Israelis have no exit plan, which is not the same as them not telling him their thinking.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Israeli media claims Esmail Qaani, commander of Quds Force of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, was killed in Beirut attack targeting Hashem Safieddine
2024-10-06
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
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Home Front: Politix
Trump to return to Butler PA 5 Oct 2024
2024-10-05

Today they'll have 2 HVTs. Ignorant.
[MSN-CBSnews] How Secret Service will secure Trump's return Saturday to Butler, Pennsylvania.

When former president Donald Trump takes the stage once again Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, the security apparatus around the GOP nominee will look starkly different from the day of the first assassination attempt against him, when he took cover behind his podium as a gunman opened fire.

SECRET SERVICE AND THE SECOND BUTLER RALLY
U.S. Secret Service personnel will be stationed both inside and outside of the secure perimeter. That area includes the roof of a glass company warehouse where investigators say 20-year-old Thomas Crooks fired off eight rounds on July 13, grazing Trump's ear, killing one attendee and injuring two others.

"Since the attempted assassination of former President Trump on July 13, the U.S. Secret Service has made comprehensive changes and enhancements to our communications capabilities, resourcing, and protective operations," U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. "Today, the former President is receiving heightened protection and we take the responsibility to ensure his safety and security very seriously."

Federal law enforcement and local police began planning for Trump's return to Butler roughly two weeks ago, multiple law enforcement officials told CBS News. The first in-person planning meeting with local law enforcement took place earlier this week, on Monday.

"Regarding the October 5 event in Butler, we are coordinating closely with the Pennsylvania State Police as well as local law enforcement in and around Butler Township," Guglielmi added. "We are also leveraging other federal security resources to expand personnel and technology."

Those federal resources will include agents from the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations, who will stand post inside and outside the security perimeter. TSA agents will be working the magnetometers along the perimeter of the site, according to law enforcement sources.

And while the 45th president's security footprint will include more personnel and assets — complete with counter sniper teams, enhanced counter drone technology and counter assault teams — there will also be additional Pennsylvania State Police officers on site, with tactical team members blended alongside U.S. Secret Service teams throughout the event.

SENATE REPORT ON SECRET SERVICE AND TRUMP BUTLER RALLY
Last month, an interim Senate report identified planning, communications and security failures in the U.S. Secret Service's efforts during former President Donald Trump's July rally that "directly contributed" to the assassination attempt against him.

The joint investigation of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations indicated that several Secret Service officials experienced chronic problems with their radios on July 13. In one notable instance, a Secret Service countersniper was offered a local radio to help with communications through the day, but he didn't have time to pick it up because he was working on "fixing" his own Secret Service radio. Because of failures of radios on site in Butler, the special agent in charge gave away his radio to a lead advance agent and went without one for the rest of the day, the report said.

Trump's detail now travels with a radio communications specialist from the U.S. Secret Service's Office of the Chief Information Officer, whose primary purpose is to share real-time information with Trump's team, as relayed on all law enforcement radio channels, according to multiple law enforcement sources.

ADDRESSING BUTLER RALLY SITE VULNERABILITIES
A number of tall buildings lining the perimeter of the Butler Farm Show create line-of-sight vulnerabilities for Trump. The Secret Service is mitigating that threat with stage enhancements, rows of farm vehicles parked around the rally site and bulletproof glass, according to the sources.

Unlike the July 13 rally, members of the U.S. Secret Service, Pennsylvania State Police and Butler County Police will sit together in a unified command post.

TRUMP IN BUTLER AMID ASSASSINATION THREATS FROM IRAN
The two attempts on Trump's life followed the arrest of a Pakistani national with ties to Iran, charged with allegedly plotting a murder-for-hire scheme targeting current and former U.S. officials, including Trump.

Matthew Olsen, head of the Department of Justice's National Security Division, said in an interview with CBS News Thursday that the U.S. government has been "intensely tracking Iranian lethal plotting efforts targeting former and current U.S. government officials — and that includes the former president."

Olsen added, "I would say that we are very concerned — gravely concerned — about Iranian plotting." Last month, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence briefed Trump on "real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him."

"I think we've been very, very clear that that is a threat vector that we are extremely concerned about monitoring very closely, working to gain as much information and fidelity on as we possibly can," a senior DHS official told CBS News in a reporter briefing, Wednesday. "That is a U.S. government wide effort to involve all of our partners across the United States government."

A Homeland Threat Assessment released by the Department of Homeland Security Wednesday stated that Iran "maintains its intent to kill US government officials it deems responsible for the 2020 death of its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)-Quds Force Commander and designated foreign terrorist Qassem Soleimani," an action carried out during the Trump administration.

"It is no secret that this is a challenge we are confronting on a daily basis right now," the DHS senior official added.

Authorities anticipate roughly 25,000-30,000 will be attending the rally Saturday.

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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.
Related:
Asif Merchant 09/06/2024 Grassley releases new [FBI released] details of Iran-backed assassination plots against Trump, Biden and others
Asif Merchant 08/09/2024 FBI let suspect in plot to kill Trump into U.S. on parole despite terror ties, Iran trip, memos show
Asif Merchant 08/07/2024 Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran arrested in political assassination plots including Trump

Related:
Shahram Poursafi 09/27/2024 US sets reward for info on Iranian behind plot to assassinate John Bolton
Shahram Poursafi 08/07/2024 Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran arrested in political assassination plots including Trump
Shahram Poursafi 12/04/2022 Iran said using more hired assassins in plots against dissidents, Israelis and Jews

Related:
Manssor Arbabsiar 11/01/2023 FBI Director Wray warns terror threat to Americans at 'whole other level' amid Hamas-Israel conflict
Manssor Arbabsiar 08/19/2022 Iranian Operatives Are On American Soil Conducting ‘Pattern Of Life’ Analyses
Manssor Arbabsiar 04/16/2022 Fake DHS Agents - More details

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iranian regime makes dozens of arrests in relation to Haniyeh's assassination
2024-08-03
[JPost] Purge away!
Iran has arrested dozens of suspects in its investigation of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination, The New York Times reported on Saturday. The arrested parties included senior intelligence officers, military officials, and staff workers at the guest house where Haniyeh was killed.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ specialized intelligence unit is reportedly running the investigations.

Haniyeh was assassinated in bed on Wednesday, shortly after attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president. Despite initial reports claiming that he had been killed by an Israeli airstrike, sources confirmed that he was killed by an explosive device smuggled into the guest house.

Israel, despite international accusations, has not claimed responsibility for the killing.

WHY IRAN IS RESORTING TO EXTREME MEASURES
Commentators have noted that the assassination of a terrorist leader on Iranian soil may be a massive blow to the regime – indicating to terrorist leaders that residing in Iran will no longer leave them immune to attack.

“The perception that Iran can neither protect its homeland nor its key allies could be fatal for the Iranian regime, because it basically signals to its foes that if they can’t topple the Islamic Republic, they can decapitate it,” Ali Vaez, the Iran director for the International Crisis Group, told the Times.
Insightful of them.
“This security breach requires different policies and strategies; it may be arresting spies if there was infiltration, or retaliation if the operation was conducted from outside the borders, or a combination of both,” Sasan Karimi, a political analyst in Tehran, told the paper.

FOCUSING THE INVESTIGATION
Investigators have reportedly searched months’ worth of surveillance footage at the guest house and are now investigating every visitor who entered the premises.
“Stock up on the mustache wax and pliers, boys — we’ve got work to do!”
In addition to surveilling the property records, sources told the Times that the investigation has also focused on Tehran’s international and domestic airports, where agents have been stationed.

Two sources claimed that Iran believed Mossad assassins were still in the country and the regime was anticipating their capture.

An anonymous IRGC official also told the Times that while he wasn’t aware of any arrests, security protocols had been completely overhauled in the past two days for senior officials. Some senior officials have been relocated, while the electronic equipment of others has been replaced.
Related:
Ismail Haniyeh 08/02/2024 Israel said finalizing coordination with international coalition to face potential attacks
Ismail Haniyeh 08/02/2024 Falling for Hebrew pun, Turkish media names ‘Haniyeh’s killer’
Ismail Haniyeh 08/02/2024 Reports: Haniyeh bodyguard was in cell that killed 5 IDF troops in 2014 Nahal Oz raid

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