Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
Some Secret - Satellite Overheads Reveal 'Secret' Iranian Nuke Facility | |
2025-05-10 | |
[RedState] On Thursday, Fox News revealed some satellite imagery of a formerly secret Iranian nuclear facility.Fox News has exclusively obtained satellite imagery revealing what an opposition group says is a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons facility – raising fresh concerns amid ongoing negotiations between Tehran and the Trump administration. This is the chilling part: According to NCRI sources, the primary function of the Rainbow Site is the extraction of tritium – a radioactive isotope used to enhance nuclear weapons. Unlike uranium enrichment, tritium has virtually no peaceful or commercial applications, casting further doubt on Iran’s longstanding claims that its nuclear ambitions are solely for energy or civilian use. Tritium, we should note, isn't used in producing fission weapons of the sort that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Tritium is used to boost fission bombs for a substantial increase in yield, and it is used as a primary fuel source in thermonuclear weapons, or hydrogen bombs. This would indicate that Iran is looking to take their nuclear weapons to the next level. Fusion weapons are orders of magnitude more powerful than fission weapons. Talks with Iran are still going on, undeterred by the release of these images. The revelations come as the Trump administration navigates sensitive negotiations with Tehran. When asked about the U.S. position on whether Iran can maintain a nuclear enrichment program short of weapons development, President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday, "We haven’t made that decision yet. We will, but we haven’t made that decision yet."
NCRI Reveals Iran’s Secret ‘Rainbow’ Facility Linked to Nuclear Weapons and Missile Program | |
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |||
Iran port explosion exposes ‘deep vulnerabilities' in regime's vital sectors amid unrest concerns | |||
2025-05-04 | |||
[FoxNews] Iran has 'incentive to lie,' expert warns The massive explosion that rocked Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port in the southern coastal town of Bandar Abbas has exposed the "deep vulnerabilities" of the Islamic Republic’s vital sectors as its concerns over internal unrest mount. Iranian authorities this week have faced mounting accusations of negligence and an attempt to "cover up" death toll figures and the strong suspicion it was using a civilian port to import explosive materials for the military. But what remains largely unknown is the extent of the damage, the economic impact and how it will directly affect Iranians already discontent with the Iranian regime. "Rajaee Port is Iran's primary hub for maritime exports and imports, particularly for oil-based products," Saeed Ghasseminejad, a senior advisor on Iran and an expert on its economy with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. Ghasseminejad explained that the southern port accounted for 52% of Tehran’s oil trade in terms of volume, 77% of its industrial metals and 85% of all container shipments, though he pointed out it is not Iran's only major port. "At this stage, there is no credible damage assessment," Ghasseminejad added, noting all guesses at this point about the extent of the damage were speculation based on images of the damage to the containers and the administrative buildings in the port. But he noted that "if the damage proves to be extensive and severe, it could place the regime under significant economic and logistical pressure." Just two days after the explosion, Tehran claimed port operations had returned to normal. Iran says the explosion killed 70, but some sources estimate the toll could be closer to 250.
Officials with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) also told Fox News Digital that eyewitnesses have suggested it could take up to 20 days to extinguish ongoing fires, some of which are believed to be in the shipping containers.
"The regime has the incentive to lie as it wants to show it has control over the situation, but a lot of sources inside Iran in the business community differ." The Iranian regime was accused of "covering up" the death toll this week by the NCRI, which has spoken to eyewitnesses at the port, in a move to counter internal dissidence. It also took steps to limit access to information for not only local residents but media outlets, and it downplayed the severity of the incident. "Regardless of the final assessment, the explosion underscores the deep vulnerabilities in Iran’s critical infrastructure and the regime's incompetence," Ghasseminejad said, "vulnerabilities that are even more acute in sectors vital to the regime’s survival, such as crude oil export terminals and gas production facilities. "The regime is now both incompetent and weak, a deadly combination."
Related: Shahid Rajaee port: 2025-04-30 Fire at Bandar Abbas port brought under control Shahid Rajaee port: 2025-04-28 Day 3: Death toll from Iranian port blast rises to 40, MP blames Israel Shahid Rajaee port: 2025-04-26 WATCH: Explosion rocks Iran's Bandar Abbas port near IRGC base, | |||
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan | ||
The West's status quo strategy is collapsing | ||
2024-10-04 | ||
THE STRATEGY OF DOING NOTHING On that mid-September day, the Biden administration’s envoy Amos Hochstein visited Israel to reiterate some simple, and rather tired, ideas. Specifically, hitting Hezbollah harder would not help Israel, and it would increase the danger of a large war, so the administration sought a diplomatic solution. All of that was declared on what was then the 345 day since Hezbollah began firing on Israel on 8 October last year. What Hochstein conveyed to Israel is the essence of what passes for the West’s strategy in autumn 2024. A strategy of not rocking the boat, not making the situation worse than it already is, by doing very little, preferably nothing at all. The goal is to preserve the status quo, the still fairly comfortable and safe present enjoyed by the West, if not by Israel, Ukraine and other countries. The concomitant, unavoidable, obsession is that with diplomacy. If the task at hand is to maintain safety in the immediate term by eliminating almost all risk, it inevitably becomes grossly inappropriate to contemplate war. After all, even a fool knows that wars are not risk-free. Therefore, the fool reaches for that magic wand, diplomacy. DIPLOMACY AS A DELUSION What the fool knows not, being a fool, is that the achievements of Western diplomacy over the past many decades are prominent by their absence. In my previous article on this sad topic, I discussed the catastrophe that has overtaken the Korean peninsula as a result of decades of American-led diplomacy. The Stalinist Kim regime is in power, equipped with intercontinental missiles and nuclear weapons, and under no effective pressure. Everywhere else in the world, diplomacy has been similarly distant from triumph. Take the case of Iran. More than 22 years ago, on 14 August 2002, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition group, accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons in secret, including by building a uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. It was later suggested that U.S. intelligence had discovered this some months earlier, but in either case it took another 16 months for the first of several failed diplomatic arrangements with Iran. On 21 October 2003, not by coincidence a mere six months after the fall of Baghdad to coalition forces, Iran agreed with Britain, France and Germany that it would answer outstanding questions about its nuclear program and suspend uranium enrichment. This supposed diplomatic achievement lasted slightly longer than two years, after which Iran resumed enrichment at Natanz in January 2006. This is the general pattern of Western diplomacy with hostile states. Even to initiate diplomacy, a combination of difficult intelligence work and military pressure, at least of the indirect kind, is needed. Then, once negotiations begin, the hostile state eventually agrees to unenforceable concessions, in order to renege on them at the appropriate time. The West, determined to avoid that unpleasant outcome, war, sidles gradually towards the worst possible outcome, a larger war at a later date. In substance, the West’s diplomacy only gives its enemies the time and peace of mind needed to become more dangerous. So it has been with Iran. After wasting another eight years, the West was led by the utterly irresponsible Obama administration into a vile nuclear agreement with Iran. This was the Joint Plan of Action of 24 November 2013, which enabled Iran to continue to enrich uranium, and to test more advanced centrifuges for enriching uranium in the future. President Obama and his Secretary of State, John Kerry, possessed the necessary combination of immorality and stupidity to persist until, on 20 July 2015, they turned the awful 2013 deal into the catastrophic Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). This formally permitted Iran to operate 5,060 enrichment centrifuges, and conduct research with uranium on more advanced centrifuges. On the day when the deal was signed, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter shamelessly promised Israel that "we will be watching Iran very closely." All the interminable years of diplomacy, all the long-winded promises were shown to be worth nothing in April 2018. Then, Israel, and not the United States or any other signatory of the repugnant Iran deal, made public that its intelligence service had extracted from a secret archive in Tehran the plans of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Project Amad. The administration of President Trump explicitly referred to the concealment of these plans by Iran as proof of Iran’s bad faith in signing the deal and failure to keep its terms, and so the U.S. withdrew from the deal on 8 May 2018. Neither Trump, nor his successor President Biden, nor any other leader of any other Western signatory of the catastrophic 2015 agreement, ever found the strength to draw the conclusion that must be drawn. Diplomacy with hostile states in general, and with Iran in particular, is a road to disaster. If Iran’s nuclear program is to be dismantled, war is the only way. Yet, since the very purpose of Western strategy is to preserve the status quo and avoid war, futile and repulsive attempts to pursue diplomacy with Iran continue to this day. As they go on, Donald Trump nonsensically compares Iran’s attack on Israel to "two kids fighting in the schoolyard," while his election opponent Kamala Harris speaks of continuing to "work with our allies... to disrupt Iran’s aggressive behavior." Neither of the two non-entities understands how irrelevant their talk has become. THE WEST HAS LOST CONTROL OF EVENTS Western rhetoric became inconsequential in February 2022, when Russia, one of the two non-Western signatories of the deal with Iran along with China, invaded all of Ukraine. Russia has been openly engaging in nuclear blackmail of the West ever since. Already in June of that year, China and Russia jointly opposed the West’s feeble criticism of Iran’s insufficient cooperation with nuclear inspectors. Almost 20 years after the diplomacy around Iran’s nuclear program began, it publicly imploded. Over those two decades, the West had comprehensively lost control of events, while Iran came within reach of nuclear warheads. Meanwhile, the catastrophic 2015 agreement continues to bear poisoned fruit. On 18 October 2023, eleven days after Hamas massacred Israeli civilians, United Nations restrictions on Iran’s missile and drone programs expired. Iran, which was already supplying drones to Russia in breach of those restrictions, can now do so in the knowledge that there are few if any restraints on its actions, and that it is free to use the proceeds of its sales to Russia to further develop its own arsenal. The only virtue of the 2015 deal, the West’s ability to ’snapback’ all sanctions previously imposed on Iran, has naturally proved a hollow one. Busy attempting to ’de-escalate tensions,’ a miserable euphemism for pretending that the collapsing status quo can still be upheld, Western European states remain parties to the deal and refuse to contemplate ’snapping back’ sanctions. Nothing remains of Western diplomacy but desperation. SIXTEEN DAYS OF DESPERATION Desperation, mixed with complete moral bankruptcy, was the guiding star of what passed for Western diplomacy between Hochstein’s visit on 16 September, and Iran’s missile attack on Israel on 1 October. Hochstein’s predictably worthless visit to Israel was rapidly followed by various successful Israeli offensive actions against Hezbollah, up to and including the killing of the commander of its rocket branch, Ibrahim Qubaisi, on the afternoon of 24 September. Instead of prompting some sobriety in Western thought and action, this led to a grotesque demonstration of desperation, faintly disguised as diplomacy. The joint statement of 25 September issued by 38 countries, including the 27 members of the European Union and also the United States, is one of the most obscene documents in the many centuries of international diplomacy. As Israel was inflicting substantial damage on Hezbollah, this statement called for "an immediate 21 day ceasefire," which would have given the terrorists in Lebanon vital relief from Israeli pressure. This same text did not even mention the word ’terrorism,’ or any derivative thereof. It also omitted all mention of Hezbollah. It did call for a "diplomatic settlement" in Lebanon, and also a ceasefire in Gaza. It was nothing less than an attempt to force Israel to capitulate, to allow the terrorists on its borders to survive, to reorganize, and to prepare to murder Israelis more effectively on an even greater scale.
Two days after the statement, on Friday 27 September, State Department Counselor Tom Sullivan was still attempting to press on with a ’diplomatic solution,’ and insistently failing to acknowledge that no such solution is in fact possible now, or was possible in the past. It was most appropriate that Israel closed out that day by killing Hassan Nasrallah. Nasrallah’s killing was not only an important success against terrorism, it also forced the Biden administration further into a self-created corner. On 29 September, National Security Spokesman John Kirby had to concede that the deaths of Nasrallah and others were "good for the region, good for the world." Kirby did not elaborate that this meant that the administration had desperately attempted to prevent these good developments by imposing a ceasefire on Israel. The administration is not alone in its desperation. The spokesman of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called "on all sides to show restraint, to step back from the brink and avoid any further escalation" the day after Kirby’s television appearance. Even after Iran’s missile attack on 1 October, the same spokesman was still calling for ’de-escalation’, while issuing a routine condemnation of Iran. Israel is meant to stop fighting for its survival, simply because Britain does not know, and does not want to know, how to stop Iran. The West’s practical response to Iran’s attack has been of very limited value. Two U.S. Navy destroyers, the USS Bulkeley (DDG-84) and USS Cole (DDG-67), did fire a dozen interceptors, but this was a fraction of the overall effort needed to defeat an attack in which approximately 200 Iranian missiles were launched. A Navy which has 237 combat ships in service, including dozens of destroyers, could have done much more, but was neither organized nor ordered to do so. The rest of the West did not intercept a single ballistic missile, and Britain contributed nothing more than two Typhoon fighters which are ludicrously claimed to have provided deterrence, without attacking any targets. British and other Allied aircraft cannot in fact attack any ballistic targets, because what was called the Air-Launched Hit-to-Kill (ALHTK) initiative, involving the launch of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles from aircraft against ballistic missiles, which was advertised in 2007, never came to anything. A natural consequence of the West’s inability to seriously contemplate, and to prepare for, war. With their direct military contribution to Israel’s defense minimal, the leading nations of the West are stuck in a loop, in which they continue to highlight their own irrelevance and impotence. On 24 September, the G7 called "for a stop to the current destructive cycle." On 2 October, it was still insisting, with no evidence and no attempt at original thought, that a non-specific "diplomatic solution is still possible." The message is clear. Israel’s survival is Israel’s problem, and the West has no answer to anything, no desire other than to keep rolling forward in neutral gear. This cannot and will not continue for long. | ||
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
Iranian drone site used by IRGC, terror proxies exposed by opposition group |
2024-05-12 |
[FoxNews] The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK), an exiled Iranian resistance group, provided a report to Fox News Digital presenting evidence of a top-secret unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) site in the Islamic Republic of Iran, north of Qom City in the Ganjine region. According to the report, members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are trained to use "all kinds of drones" at the base, including the Mohajer series, manufactured by Qods Aviation Industry. Employees of Qods Aviation Industry also reportedly use the site to train small groups of Iranian proxy operatives of Hezbollah, as well as members of Iranian proxy groups from Syria, Yemen and Iraq, to use the Mohajer-4 drone platform. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), based on information from the MEK, told Fox News Digital that the site is a proving ground for Mohajer-4, Mohajer-6, and Mohajer-10 drones. Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of NCRI's Washington, D.C., office, told Fox News Digital that "seven months into the regional conflict, it has become evident that the regime in Tehran is the proverbial ‘head of the snake’ of belligerence and terror export in the Middle East. As such, Western governments must exercise firmness instead of accommodation and engagement in dealing with Tehran and hold it to account for its malign activities." Qods Aviation Industry is listed on the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, as is its new moniker, Light Airplanes Design and Manufacturing Industries. The newest drone in its arsenal, the Mohajer-10, can carry a payload of 300 kilograms for a range of 2,000 kilometers, according to Breaking Defense. Released in August 2023, the drone has a 450-liter fuel tank and can stay airborne for 24 hours. In a photo of the new drone shared on an Iranian television station, text in both Hebrew and Persian advised viewers to "prepare your shelters," Reuters reported. Brett Velicovich, a U.S. Army veteran and author of "Drone Warrior: An Elite Soldier's Inside Account of the Hunt for America's Most Dangerous Enemies," said that the schematics for deadly Mohajer- and Shahed-series drones are being exported to Iranian proxies around the world. "One or two guys can launch one of these drones from the middle of a field…and they have the capability to conduct just as powerful a strike as major nation states could before," Velicovich said. Velicovich added this allows Iran to "sow chaos and discord" while also "having plausible deniability." He claims the regime "want to use these long-range drone systems to show that they somehow have control over the Middle East and the region." Related: People’s Mojahedin Organization: 2022-07-23 Terror threat forces cancelation of Iranian dissidents’ summit in Albania People’s Mojahedin Organization: 2021-02-05 In first for Europe, Iran envoy sentenced to 20-year prison term over bomb plot People’s Mojahedin Organization: 2020-05-12 Cyber attack targets Iranian port near Strait of Hormuz Related: National Council of Resistance of Iran: 2023-11-10 Spanish Far-Right Politician Shot In The Face Suspects A Link To His Work With Iranian Opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran: 2023-07-03 Iran stores arsenal of ballistic missiles in hidden valley - report National Council of Resistance of Iran: 2020-12-01 Iran opposition suspected alongside Israel in scientist's killing, Shamkani says |
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Europe | |
Spanish Far-Right Politician Shot In The Face Suspects A Link To His Work With Iranian Opposition | |
2023-11-10 | |
[Sun-Sentinel] Spanish right-wing politician Alejandro Vidal-Quadras was recovering in a hospital Thursday after being shot in the face in broad daylight on a central Madrid street. Police were ruling out no hypotheses, including a possible link to the former European lawmaker’s ties with the Iranian opposition. A police source close to the investigation told The Associated Press there was no evidence backing the Iranian link, but confirmed that Vidal-Quadras himself had raised that suspicion from his hospital bed and that investigators were looking into it as one of several possible motives. In a sign that police were broadening the investigation to look into the Iranian angle, another official revealed that a provincial brigade that handles terrorism and extremism cases joined late on Thursday in the inquiries previously led by agents specialized in homicides. Both officials spoke to AP under the condition of anonymity to protect the secrecy of the inquiries. Vidal-Quadras, 78, was attacked at around 1:30 p.m. near his home in the Spanish capital and he was conscious when taken to a hospital by emergency crews. There were no immediate arrests and police were checking on surveillance footage and witness accounts to identify the shooter, who had been seen wearing a black helmet. The suspect had fired one gunshot before fleeing on a motorbike driven by an accomplice. A charred motorbike found later in the day in a suburban town on the outskirts of Madrid was being investigated, one of the officials said. Four hours after the shooting, Madrid’s Gregorio Marañón hospital said the gunshot had fractured Vidal Quadras’ jawbone and that he would undergo surgery. It said the politician was in stable condition and his life was not in danger. Vidal-Quadras was a member of Spain’s conservative Popular Party, its regional leader in Catalonia, and a European Parliament member before leaving after three decades when he fell out with then-Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. After he broke away, he helped found the far-right Vox party. He left Vox shortly after a failed attempt to win a European lawmaker seat in 2014. As part of his political career, Vidal-Quadras has been aligned for decades with the Iranian opposition in exile, an involvement that was noticed by Tehran. In January, the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced it imposed sanctions on Vidal-Quadras along with others who had ties with the exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, accusing them of “supporting terrorism and terrorist groups.” The group, known as the MEK, began as a Marxist organization opposing the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It claimed — and was suspected of — a series of attacks against U.S. officials in Iran in the 1970s, something the group now denies. The MEK operates under a variety of names, including the National Council of Resistance of Iran and the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran. In mid-September, addressing a conference organized by the NCRI in Brussels, Vidal-Quadras criticized European Union officials and leaders for not being strong enough in their opposition to Iran and in their support for the exiled opposition. The MEK also has paid former American and European officials to speak at their summits in the past.
In the center of Madrid, an unknown person shot at the Spanish and Catalan politician Alejo Vidal Cuadras. The Spanish newspaper ABC reported this on November 9 . According to the publication, the incident occurred in the Salamanca area. The 78-year-old politician was taken to the hospital, he was conscious. Vidal Cuadras was the leader of the conservative People's Party of Catalonia from 1991 to 1996. From 1999 to 2014, he was Deputy Head of the European Parliament. As reported by IA Regnum , Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez commented on the statement by the head of the government of Catalonia, Pere Aragones, about plans to achieve progress on an agreement with the country's authorities on holding a referendum on sovereignty. According to Sánchez, the Spanish constitution does not provide for any regions of the country to have the right to gain independence. Related: Mujahedeen-e-Khalq: 2023-03-13 Iran says more than 100 arrested over school poisonings Mujahedeen-e-Khalq: 2022-12-16 Albania sentences Iranian man to 10 years in prison on terror charges Mujahedeen-e-Khalq: 2022-08-06 Pro-Iranian hackers likely behind cyberattack on Albania, say US analysts | |
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
Iran stores arsenal of ballistic missiles in hidden valley - report |
2023-07-03 |
“Not only do we have positive identification of the Qiam-1 ballistic missile arsenal in Kermanshah, Iran but you can even look directly into the missile base from an overlooking observation point,” the Center said last week. The report shows Qiam-1 ballistic missiles based at an area around 150km. from the border with Iraq. The missiles are allegedly kept in dozens of bunkers in three underground sites. One of them is in Konesht Canyon. There are “dozens of missile bunkers” dug into this canyon, the research center says. A video online produced by Alma shows evidence of 61 missile bunkers in the canyon. Footage also shows what a bunker for a Qiam missile might look like. They also say they have identified 80 other bunkers at a site called Panj Pelleh. These could house Qiam or Fatteh missiles. The canyon site has anti-aircraft weapons as well. The research center shows the location of the sites and the general context of the area. It also shows that there are surface-to-air missile sites at the Kermanshah air base. BALLISTIC ROCKET LAUNCH SITE REFERENCED BY NATIONAL COUNCIL OF RESISTANCE The National Council of Resistance of Iran also mentioned this site in March 2021. They held a press conference at the time and mentioned two “IRGC ballistic missile sites in Western Iran that have been used for attacks against neighboring countries.” At that event they claimed that this area was used to launch the missile attacks targeting US forces at Ain al-Assad in January 2020. “The regime never stated exactly from where the missile strikes were launched,” their report said. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Qiam-1 “is a liquid fueled, short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) developed and deployed by Iran. The missile is an indigenous variant of the Shahab-2 SRBM. Unlike Iran’s other Scud-variants, it does not have external tail fins, and has a separating warhead. Iran has employed the Qiam-1 in combat operations on multiple occasions since 2017.”
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran | ||
Iran opposition suspected alongside Israel in scientist's killing, Shamkani says | ||
2020-12-01 | ||
They could tell because it said Made in Iran all over it. A senior Iranian official said on Monday an opposition group was suspected alongside Israel in the killing of a prominent Iranian nuclear scientist, an attack that has raised the prospect of a new standoff between Tehran and its longtime enemy.Iran's English-language Press TV reported the weapon used in Friday's killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was made in Israel. Or domestically produced by Houthis? "The weapons collected from the site of the terrorist act bear the logo and specifications of the Israeli military industry," an unnamed source told Press TV. It’s a double bluff — the wily Joo would never leave behind something that pointed to him, so that proves it was someone else. In Jerusalem, there was no immediate reply from Israeli officials contacted for comment on the report.They would, but they’re laughing so hard they can’t catch their breath to say anything. Speaking before the Press TV report, Israeli intelligence minister Eli Cohen told radio station 103 FM he did not know who was responsible.”Wudn’t us!” Fakhrizadeh, who had little public profile in 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 spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word Iranis a cognate form of Aryan.The abbreviation IRGCis the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either Duceor Führeror maybe both. They hate but had been named by Israel as a prime player in what it says is Iran’s nuclear weapons quest, was killed on Friday when he was ambushed on a highway near Tehran and his car sprayed with bullets. Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Golly — what an impressive title! told state TV: "This was a very complicated liquidation that was carried out remotely with electronic devices."Ahah! Yet another theory of how the Dread Israelis dunnit. "We have some clues but surely the 'Monafeghin' group was involved and the criminal element behind it is the Zionist regime (Israel) and Mossad," he added, referring to Israel's foreign intelligence service."Monafeghin" is a term officials employ to refer to the Gay Paree-based National Council of Resistance® of Iran (NCRI), a bloc of opposition groups in exile that seek an end to Shi’ite Moslem holy manal rule. The NCRI, in a statement, rejected Shamkhani's accusation. CEMETERY Fakhrizadeh was buried at the Emamzade Saleh mosque in northern Tehran on Monday, state TV reported, as the defence minister promised the Islamic Theocratic Republicwould retaliate for his killing. Iran’s holy manal and military rulers have blamed Israel for Fakhrizadeh's killing. Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said on Sunday that Fakhrizadeh had been killed by a machine gun operated by remote control, while the Arabic language Al Alam TV reported the weapons used in the attack were "controlled by satellite". When asked about potential Iranian reprisals, Cohen told radio station 103: "We have regional intelligence supremacy, and on this matter we are prepared, we are increasing vigilance, in the places where that is required." Iran's hardline Kayhan daily, whose editor-in-chief is named by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini... , in an opinion piece on Sunday called for an attack on the Israeli port city of Haifa, if an Israeli role in Fakhrizadeh’s killing is proven. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... Iran’s rulers are aware of daunting military and political difficulties in attacking Israel. Such an attack would also complicate any effort by U.S. President-elect Joe Foreign Policy Whiz KidBiden ![]() I'm not working for you. Don't be such a horse's ass.... to revive detente with Tehran after he takes office on Jan. 20.
Related: Ali Shamkhani: 2020-07-31 Iran-Iraq Ties at 'Best Level', PMU Chief Says Ali Shamkhani: 2020-01-22 IRGC Commander & ‘Soleimani Ally’ Shot Dead By Masked Assassins On Motorcycle Ali Shamkhani: 2020-01-12 U.S. is sanctioning eight senior Iranian officials, including Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, and Gholamreza Soleimani, the Commander of the Basij Related: Supreme National Security Council of Iran: 2020-07-04 Iran announces they have found out cause of nuclear reactor blast Supreme National Security Council of Iran: 2020-03-09 Iran ‘appreciates’ Iraqi efforts to expel US troops: advisor Supreme National Security Council of Iran: 2016-05-10 Dead Iranian Soldiers Spur Conflicting Stances in Iran | ||
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
How serious is the coronavirus crisis in Iran? |
2020-03-23 |
h/t Instapundit [yahoo] - Paris (AFP) - Even according to official figures, the coronavirus epidemic has killed over 1,800 people in Iran, prompting unprecedented measures that have included closing holy Shiite shrines. But could the authorities in the Islamic republic be underplaying the severity of the COVID-19 epidemic and the challenge in fighting it? The crisis has come as the country faces one of its most troubled periods since the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, with Iran increasingly estranged from the international community and its economy battered by American sanctions. Going by official data, Iran is the fourth-worst hit country after Italy, China and Spain. Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour has described an uptick of 50 new cases per hour and a new death every 10 minutes. Clearly you're not devout to Allan enough. Keep licking shrines But Persian language media outside Iran, citing figures from regional sources, claim even this grim toll is a lowball. On Saturday, the Prague-based, US-funded Radio Farda said at least 660 more people have died than the official tally. And the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), outlawed in Iran, has claimed the real death toll could be as high as 8,800. My feeling is if the people at the top get it, the hoi polloi are dying like flies. |
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |||
At Least 7 Killed In Attack On Aleppo Wednesday Night; Syria Blames Israel - Report | |||
2019-03-29 | |||
![]() They form part of a wider Iranian-supported presence near Aleppo and have reportedly suffered casualties in previous airstrikes. The Syrian military Wednesday night that Israel struck the Sheikh Najjar industrial zone in the northern city of Aleppo, causing damage only to materials. Opposition sources such as SOHR claimed that the attack also targeted Iranian ammunition stores and the Nayrab (Nairab) military airport used by Tehran on the outskirts of the city - the second such strike on the installation in less than a year. "The Israeli aggression targeted some positions in Sheikh Najjar industrial zone and a number of enemy missiles were brought down," Syria’s SANA news agency quoted an army statement as saying. The blasts also caused an electrical blackout in Aleppo, the country's second-largest city. While the Israeli military has not commented on the strikes, Israel's acting Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz was quoted by Haaretz on Thursday morning as saying that "as far as Iran knows, it's Israel" who carried out the strikes. Israeli officials have repeatedly voiced concerns over Iran’s entrenchment in Syria and the smuggling of sophisticated weaponry to Hezbollah from Tehran to Leb via Syria, stressing that both are redlines for the Jewish state. With the presence of Iranian and Hezbollah forces, Israel’s northern front has become the IDF’s number one priority, with former chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gadi Eisenkot admitting that Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against Iranian targets in Syria. Eisenkot said that Israel "operated under a certain threshold until two-and-a-half years ago," when he got "unanimous consent" from the government to change the rules of the game, leading to the dropping of some 2,000 missiles against Iranian and Hezbollah targets in 2018 alone. In January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel has a set policy of preventing Iran's entrenchment in Syria, and that it would be enforced whether he is in Israel or abroad. "We have a permanent policy to harm Iran’s establishment in Syria and to harm anyone who tries to harm us...This policy is permanent." Iran meanwhile has warned Israel that it would respond if the Jewish state continued attacking them and their militias in Syria. Iranians have been reported killed in Aleppo and adjoining regions in prior airstrikes last April and July. In the latter, nine Iranians were reported killed at Nayrab Air Base. Similarly, reports by an Iranian opposition group claimed that Iranians were present in Sheikh Najjar. The National Council of Resistance of Iran tweeted that Iranian-linked Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba were present in December 2016. In January 2017, social media supporters of the Syrian rebellion claimed that some of the Iranians and Iranian-linked groups in Sheikh Najjar had been killed either due to shelling or airstrikes. These reports appear to connect the dots regarding Iranian presence in Aleppo going back several years, including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp-supported local militias. Nayrab airbase has been a conduit for Iranian support for the Syrian regime, and a barracks with militias in Sheikh Najjar has played a role in the regime’s war against the rebels. However, you can observe a lot just by watching... now that much of the fighting in the Syrian civil war is winding down, those Iranian assets and the groups linked to them are entrenching in Syria -something that both the US and Israel have warned about. There have been discussions about foreign forces leaving Syria when the fighting is finished. However, you can observe a lot just by watching... the conflict is not over. There are tensions in Idlib province between the Syrian regime, it’s allies and jihadist groups. In September, ...the most dubious NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure.... ally.... and Russia signed an agreement that ended threats of a regime offensive in return for opposition and holy warrior groups in Idlib removing their heavy weapons from a buffer area. Since then, the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham ![]() Russia and Israel discussed Syria in February when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin ![]() . The details of those and subsequent discussions are not public, but reports indicated that Israel has continued to demand the Iranian presence in Syria be reduced, saying that it will continue its freedom of action in Syria in response to any threats.
Pencilneckal-Assad Lord of the Baath... 's government forces. The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the strike on Wednesday night targeted an Iranian weapons depot and also maimed several other fighters. Footage said to show aftermath of airstrike in Syria attributed to Israel
Videos circulating on social media Thursday reportedly show the aftermath of an overnight ![]() The footage shows a heavily damaged and mostly deserted industrial area, with collapsed ceilings and walls littering the floors of warehouses and what appears to be damage from shrapnel pockmarking the sides of buildings. The clip was released by a Syrian journalist who is affiliated with the Assad regime, the Ynet news site reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the Israeli bombardment hit "ammunition stores belonging to Iranian forces and allied groups, and caused huge kabooms." The group added that at least four people, believed to be warehouse guards, were killed. | |||
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
Iranian terrorists lurk abroad in guise of diplomats, dissidents report |
2018-10-23 |
![]() From Austria to Albania to Iraq, an expansionist Iran has turned embassies into terrorism planning sites to meddle in host governments and hunt down the opposition, according to the report by the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The coalition includes the activist chapter known as MEK, which operates far-flung spy networks in Iran. The report, "Iran Doubles Down on Terror and Turmoil," presents a big-picture assessment of Iran’s foreign interventions in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, and its terrorism-sponsored plots in Europe. "The mullahs’ regime has funneled billions of dollars to finance its belligerent war agenda in the Middle East while the majority of Iran’s people are living in poverty," the report states. "As the regime’s officials have conceded, if the regime fails to inflame wars outside Iran’s borders, it would have to fight for survival within Iran’s borders. This is because external conflicts draw attention away from domestic crises." The National Council’s 57-page report contains the tale of ruling Muslim mullahs on the march, unleashing abroad a number of state organs and paid militiamen to wage war. They include: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s dominant security apparatus; the Quds Force, a committed band of paramilitary foreign provocateurs; the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and its operations arm, the Organization for Foreign Intelligence and Movements (OFIM). |
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
Iran Summons German Envoy over Extradition of 'Bomb Plot' Diplomat |
2018-10-12 |
[An Nahar] Tehran summoned the German ambassador on Wednesday to protest the extradition of one of its diplomats to Belgium over his alleged role in a bomb plot. "The German ambassador to Tehran was summoned today to protest against the extradition... of one of our diplomats to Belgium," foreign ministry front man Bahram Ghasemi said in a statement. The head of the ministry's European desk told the ambassador that the arrest and extradition were "caused by a fabricated conspiracy by enemies of Iran and European relations" and called for his swift release, the statement added. The Iranian diplomat, who had been based in Vienna, was taken into custody in Belgium earlier on Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in an alleged plot to bomb an Iranian opposition rally in La Belle France. The suspect was previously identified as Assadollah Asadi. Iran has denied French accusations that he was involved in a plot targeting the annual gathering of the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran on June 30 just outside Gay Paree. The accusations come at a particularly sensitive time as Iran works with European powers to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, abandoned by the United States earlier this year. |
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Europe |
Belgium charges Iranian diplomat with planning bomb attack |
2018-10-11 |
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Belgium has charged an Iranian diplomat and three other individuals with planning to bomb a meeting of an exiled Iranian opposition group in La Belle France in June, Belgian prosecutors said on Wednesday. The diplomat, identified only by his given name as Assadollah, worked at the Iranian embassy in Vienna. He was tossed in the slammer ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in Germany on suspicion of planning an attack against the Gay Paree-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an umbrella bloc of opposition groups in exile. On Tuesday, Germany transferred the diplomat to Belgium, where he was charged with preparing a terrorist attack, the state prosecutor said. The other three alleged participants have also been charged in Belgium. Two of them were arrested by Belgian police in June with 500 grams of TATP, an explosive that can be home-made from easily available chemicals, as well as a detonation device. The fourth suspect was arrested in La Belle France and later transferred to Belgium. |
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