In the wake of former President Ebrahim Raisi’s tragic death in a helicopter crash in mid-May, Iran held snap elections that resulted in the victory of Masoud Pezeshkian. The President-elect has since published a foreign policy vision in the Tehran Times titled “My message to the new world,” which has been described as refreshing due to its departure from the zero-sum thinking that often dominates international relations discourse.
Continue reading Iran’s New Direction: President-Elect Pezeshkian’s Balanced Approach to Global RelationsCategory Archives: Iran on Target
Reformist Wins in Iran – What Are the Implications for the World?
All indications are that the Reformist candidate, Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian, has won the Presidential snap elections in Iran and defeated ultra-hardliner Saeed Jalili.
Continue reading Reformist Wins in Iran – What Are the Implications for the World?Iran Establishes 2,200 km of Strategic ‘Underground Cities’
These strategic sites retain warships able to deploy drones, oceangoing helicopter carriers, missile-launching capabilities, and several other military innovations from the IRGC.
Continue reading Iran Establishes 2,200 km of Strategic ‘Underground Cities’Afghanistan Recessional: Will It Lead to a War With Iran?
To recover politically Biden and his team must do something kinetic that will be cheered on by the public, which means risky or particularly bold.
Continue reading Afghanistan Recessional: Will It Lead to a War With Iran?China Mega Investment Deal With Iran Blows U.S. Out of the Picture
China has just announced that it will invest 400 billion dollars in Iran over a period of 25 years in exchange for a great deal on Iran’s oil – in the latest move of absolute defiance against the U.S. and its secondary sanctions. Where’s this all heading?
Continue reading China Mega Investment Deal With Iran Blows U.S. Out of the PictureA Sovereign Iran Will Move Closer To Russia-China
Iran’s president-elect will ‘Look East’ while seeking to exit ‘strategic patience’ when dealing with the US…
Continue reading A Sovereign Iran Will Move Closer To Russia-ChinaUS Hawks Push Hardline Presidential Candidate in Iran
Before entering the Trump administration to serve as U.S. envoy to Venezuela and Iran, Elliott Abrams penned a revealing essay in May 2017, entitled “Why I’m Rooting for the Hardliner in Iran’s Elections: Two cheers for Ibrahim Raisi!”
Continue reading US Hawks Push Hardline Presidential Candidate in IranIran’s Islamic Revolution set the stage for a new global anti-imperialist struggle
One of the most overlooked aspects of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, which worked to topple Western domination of the country, is its global impact, from a re-configuration of Middle-Eastern resistance to imperialism, to international partnerships in the fight against US hegemonic endeavors.
Continue reading Iran’s Islamic Revolution set the stage for a new global anti-imperialist struggleIsrael’s Gift to Joe Biden: War with Iran
The assassination of Tehran’s top nuclear scientist is a ploy by Israel to compel the likely US president-elect to reject diplomacy and choose military action to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambition. Which option will he choose?
Continue reading Israel’s Gift to Joe Biden: War with IranTop Iranian Nuclear Scientist Assassinated as Trump Heads for the Exit
Immediately after Donald Trump said that he can accept his electoral defeat if the Electoral College says so, Bibi Netanyahu’s government wasted no time in assassinating the Father of Iranian Nuclear Research, Mohsen Fakhrisadeh.
Continue reading Top Iranian Nuclear Scientist Assassinated as Trump Heads for the ExitPossible US Strike on Iran?
Since Iran ended a generation of US/UK-installed fascist tyranny in 1979, both wings of US duopoly rule waged dirty war on the country and its people by other means.
Continue reading Possible US Strike on Iran?Abraham Accord: Experts Warn Trump Peace Deal a Precursor to War with Iran
Experts warn that the Accord is motivated by a desire to secure a united front against Iran for a potential future war — a conflict that would likely make Iraq and Afghanistan look mild by comparison.
Continue reading Abraham Accord: Experts Warn Trump Peace Deal a Precursor to War with IranIsrael Leaks Evidence of Its Covert Iran Bombing Campaign that Threatens to Spark a Wider War
A relentless campaign of aggression against Iran is entering a new phase with cyberattacks on military and civilian targets that aim to cripple Rouhani’s government and set the stage for wider conflict in the Middle East.
by Raul Diego
Continue reading Israel Leaks Evidence of Its Covert Iran Bombing Campaign that Threatens to Spark a Wider WarUS Announces Three New Bases in Iraq After Iraqis Demand Full Withdrawal
The three sites chosen for the news bases, Erbin, Sulimania and Halabja are all extremely close to Iran, with Halabja just eight miles from its border.
Continue reading US Announces Three New Bases in Iraq After Iraqis Demand Full Withdrawal2.5 ‘Million-Man March’ Kicks Off to Eject US Forces from Iraq
Iraqis have rallied in Baghdad in massive numbers to call for an end to US military presence in the country following high-profile assassinations and airstrikes targeting anti-terror forces.
Continue reading 2.5 ‘Million-Man March’ Kicks Off to Eject US Forces from IraqSoleimani Fallout Continues to Produce Diplomatic Dividends for Russia
Ahead of this year’s Munich Security Conference, due to begin on February 14th, its chairman Wolfgang Ischinger praised what he called President Putin’s “method” concerning security-issues in the Middle East.
Continue reading Soleimani Fallout Continues to Produce Diplomatic Dividends for RussiaStop Buying Iranian Oil or Face Sanctions | Trump told China
In more than one occasions, the US President Donald Trump has tweeted about how much he loves the Iranian people, and even prodded Iran government to not kill them while doing the protests against everything bad about the country. Covertly, he also pressured China not to buy oil from Iran, as part of the US-China trade deal.
Continue reading Stop Buying Iranian Oil or Face Sanctions | Trump told ChinaThe Real Reason the U.S. is Interested in Iran
The American obsession with Iran is about oil and natural gas. If these two resources had been absent, it is hard to imagine such an intense American focus on the country from the time of a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency-backed coup of Iran’s elected government in 1953 to today. The Foreign Policy magazine piece linked above is based on declassified CIA documents and summarizes the coup this way: “Known as Operation Ajax, the CIA plot was ultimately about oil.”
By Kurt Kobb | Resourceinsights.com
This should come as no surprise. Iran was an oil power back in 1953 and it remains one today. Iran is presumed to have the third largest oil reserves in the world and the second largest natural gas reserves. Even if the numbers cited are somewhat inflated, Iran’s reserves are not small, and the country is likely to play a large role in world energy markets for many years to come.
The recent escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran because of the U.S. assassination of a prominent, popular and by all accounts highly effective Iranian general will allow the advocates of war to trot out all manner of excuses for such a war: terrorism, regime change, the credibility of the United States, Iran’s nonexistent nuclear weapons, and the United States’ geostrategic posture vis-à-vis big power rivals such as Russia and China. (Does anyone really know what the last one means?)
What won’t be discussed are the deep historical antagonisms which have developed starting with the 1953 CIA-backed coup. For example, few people remember that the United States supplied economic aid, dual-use (both civilian and military use) technology, training and arms through other countries to Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq War. Saddam invaded Iran thinking he could take advantage of the chaos in that country right after the 1979 revolution. In this war Iraq attacked major Iranian cities including Tehran with ballistic missiles and used poison gas on the battlefield. Iran is said to have suffered over 1 million deaths during the eight years of conflict which also created a large class of disabled people.
It turns out that the Iranian focus on America and its worldwide military, intelligence (covert and otherwise) and diplomatic operations is but a mirror image of the American focus on Iran and its worldwide network of intelligence and allied surrogates that Iran uses to strike at the United States and its allies.
Behind it all are the vast stores of hydrocarbons that make Iran’s power possible and its importance substantial in the world. What is strange about this American obsession is that successive American administrations, both Republican and Democratic, have told us that soaring domestic production of oil and natural gas from shale deposits in the United States would free us from foreign sources and lighten our military and security burden abroad. “Energy dominance” became the watchword in the U.S. oil and gas industry.
U.S. net imports of crude oil have dropped from 10 million barrels per day (mbpd) 15 years ago to around 3 mbpd today. And, because of its vast refining capacity, the United States exports about 3 mbpd of refined petroleum products. While the United States remains connected to world markets, the country is far less dependent on foreign sources of oil than in the past.
For natural gas U.S. marketed production now exceeds U.S. consumption. The United States has become an exporter of natural gas.
So, why is the U.S. government and national security establishment still obsessing over Iran? Here are three possible energy-related explanations:
1. There isn’t as much U.S. shale oil and natural gas as we are being told.
This is a real possibility. This independent report—actually an update of previous reports—concludes that forecasts of abundance by the U.S. Energy Information Administration are “extremely optimistic” and “highly unlikely to be realized.” The report is based on actual well histories and not industry hype about future resources.
Others who have started to look closely at the data agree that the industry has overblown the potential from shale. And, investors have finally wised up to the fact that the shale industry as a whole has done nothing but destroy their capital over the last decade, losing 80 percent of its market value as of the middle of 2019.
Free cash flow has been consistently negative for almost all the major players which has forced them time and time again to raise money through the bond and equity markets. Unfortunately for investors, these infusions didn’t stabilized shale players. Investors were just throwing good money after bad. Now those investors are finally pulling back.
In short, the shale boom is not sustainable financially or technologically. The “miracle” technology that is bringing oil and natural gas not previously available out of the ground has never been able to make the industry as a whole profitable. Eventually, that will be reflected in production numbers as investors only finance those few players and few prospects that can actually make money.
2. Iran is a competitor of the U.S. oil industry.
Despite Iran’s vast oil and natural gas reserves, its exports have fallen dramatically due to sanctions placed on it by the United States and forced on other countries whose companies do business in America.
The cuts in Iranian oil exports have kept low prices in the oil markets from getting even lower and affecting U.S.-based oil operations negatively. By keeping sanctions in place and continually working toward zero exports from Iran, the U.S. administration is also helping to keep oil prices higher than they otherwise would be and this helps the domestic U.S. oil industry whether the administration intends this result or not.
3. Iranian energy exports are a way for Iran to extend its influence.
Pakistan backed out of a pipeline project last year because of sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran. The pipeline would have brought Iranian natural gas into the country. The pipeline was originally planned to bring natural gas to India as well before that country pulled out of the project. The U.S. government clearly wants to prevent Iran from using its energy exports to give it leverage with other countries.
No one can say for certain whether current tensions between the United States and Iran will spiral into war. But remember: When they tell you it’s not about oil (and natural gas), you can be certain that these resources are at the center of American motives. Absent these resources it would be difficult to understand the United States’ decades-long obsession with Iran.
CONFIRMED: Israel Supplied the Key Intelligence for U.S. Assassination of Iran’s Soleimani
This latest revelation should not surprise anyone who has been actively following the exploits of the current Trump Administration and its partner organization, Israel’s Netanyahu government.
Continue reading CONFIRMED: Israel Supplied the Key Intelligence for U.S. Assassination of Iran’s SoleimaniButcher of the Worst Kind: The Deeper Story Behind Trump’s Assassination of Soleimani
Mainstream media pundits are now talking about “de-escalation” between Iran and the US, after “both sides have fooled everyone that they have achieved victory.” Is that how cheap the life of a man who dedicated his better days fighting against the Deep State controlled ISIS and Al Qaeda terror groups?
Continue reading Butcher of the Worst Kind: The Deeper Story Behind Trump’s Assassination of SoleimaniSatellite Photos Confirm Iranian “Warning Slap” Missile Precision
Four decades of dealing with Western imperialist ambitions in the Middle East have taught the Iranians to rely on their own capability to repel future aggression by way of advancing its military capabilities. The short-range ballistic missile strikes into a US military airbase were not only successful, but also show precision, i.e. targeting only the equipment over personnel.
Continue reading Satellite Photos Confirm Iranian “Warning Slap” Missile Precision80 Killed, 200 Wounded US Army Personnel in the First Wave of Iranian Reprisal
As part of the send-off ceremony of the most accomplished general against global counter-terrorism, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps started heavy ballistic missile attacks on US Ein Al-Assad airbase in Southwestern Iraq near the border with Syria, early Wednesday morning.
Continue reading 80 Killed, 200 Wounded US Army Personnel in the First Wave of Iranian ReprisalGen. Qassem Soleimani: The World’s Most Accomplished Military Figure in Counter-terrorism
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An American political analyst and author described Iran’s IRGC Quds Force Commander Major General Qassem Soleimani as the “world’s most accomplished military figure” in the field of counter-terrorism.
Continue reading Gen. Qassem Soleimani: The World’s Most Accomplished Military Figure in Counter-terrorismTrump Threatens to Destroy Iranian Cultural Sites Just like ISIS Did in Syria
Donald Trump is showing the world what terror he is capable of inflicting on any country having the courage to stand up against American abuses in their territory. Right after his successful killing of Qassem Soleimani, he warned the Iranians not to retaliate, or the mighty US bombs will rain down on Iran, just like it did to Iraq, some decades ago.
Continue reading Trump Threatens to Destroy Iranian Cultural Sites Just like ISIS Did in SyriaThe Soleimani Assassination Fallout Has Begun
Soleimani’s body has yet to arrive at its final destination, but already the fallout to Trump’s assassination of the most respected general in all of Middle East has begun.
Continue reading The Soleimani Assassination Fallout Has BegunTrump’s Biggest Gamble Yet May Set the Entire Middle East Alight
The assassination of Iran’s top general is not only going to wreak havoc on America’s allies in the region. It is also going to divide the Arab world just at the very time when diplomacy was working. Was that the real aim of the hit?
Continue reading Trump’s Biggest Gamble Yet May Set the Entire Middle East AlightU.S. Kick Starts Raging ’20s Declaring War on Iran
It does not matter where the green light for the U.S. targeted assassination in Baghdad of Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani and the Hashd al-Shaabi second-in-command Abu Madhi al-Muhandis came from.
Continue reading U.S. Kick Starts Raging ’20s Declaring War on IranKhazarian Jews Celebrate Trump’s Killing of Soleimani, but it Could Be Shortlived
Khazarian Jews all over are celebrating the successful assassination of the most revered Iranian commander, Qassem Soleimani, on orders of US Butcher Donald Trump.
Continue reading Khazarian Jews Celebrate Trump’s Killing of Soleimani, but it Could Be ShortlivedLegendary Iranian Quds Force Commander Maj. Gen. Soleimani Assassinated on Trump’s Order
Donald Trump just crossed the red line when he ordered the assassination of the most respected commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Major General Qassem Soleimani. This action will put all US forces at risk of retaliation from Iranian sympathizers across the Middle East and beyond.
PressTV reports,
Major General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), have been killed in US airstrikes in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
The IRGC announced in a statement on Friday morning that Major General Soleimani and al-Muhandis were martyred in the attack carried out by US helicopters.
The Iraqi pro-government group also confirmed the incident.
“The deputy head of the Hashed, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and head of the Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, were killed in a US strike that targeted their car on the Baghdad International Airport road,” it said in a statement on Friday.
“The American and Israeli enemy is responsible for killing the mujahideen Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani,” said Ahmed al-Assadi, a PMU spokesman.
The group had earlier said that its public relations director Mohammed Reza al-Jaberi and four other members of the group were also killed after three Katyusha rockets struck a military base next to Baghdad International Airport in the Iraqi capital.
The media bureau of the voluntary forces – better known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Shabai – described the early Friday morning attack as a “cowardly US bombing”.
The rockets landed near the air cargo terminal, burning two vehicles and injuring several people, the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s Security Media Cell said in an earlier statement.
Shortly after the attack, US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the strikes were carried out against two targets linked to Iran in Baghdad. The officials declined to give any further details.
Meanwhile, security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that eight people were killed in the attack.
The development came as the United States military said on Sunday it had carried out strikes in western Iraq against Kataib Hezbollah group, which is part of the pro-government Popular Mobilization Units – better known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/12/29/614883/iraq-us-airstrike-pmu
Iraqi security sources said at least 25 fighters were killed and at least 55 wounded following the air attacks.
Senior Iraqi officials also condemned the US attack against the Kataib Hezbollah’s positions as a “violation of Iraqi sovereignty”.
Caretaker Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi called the move a “dangerous escalation that threatens the security of Iraq and the region” in a statement on Sunday,
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/12/27/614734/Iraq-rockets-hit-K1-base-Kirkuk-United-States
Abdul Mahdi said US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper had called him about half an hour before the US raids to tell him of the US intentions to hit Kataib Hezbollah’s bases. He said he asked Esper to call off US plans.
Iraqi caretaker President Barham Salih also condemned the attack.
The US raids drew a wave of condemnation from officials and movements across the region, and triggered furious public protests outside the US embassy in Baghdad.
The Pentagon said the bombings were in response to attacks targeting American forces near the oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk last week, which reportedly killed a US civilian contractor and injured four US service members, as well as two members of the Iraqi security forces. The US accused Kataib Hezbollah group of the attack.
Therefore, it is wrong for the White House to justify the assassination of Soleimani as a retaliation of the angry protestors outside of the US Embassy in Baghdad.
The Americans started the whole thing somewhere else.
Israel is an expert in starting a war by killing somebody that would provide a pretext for a US intervention. Trump only needs a slight push in favor of Israel, especially when it comes to Iran.
Soleimani was on a diplomatic mission for peace on White House’s invitation
Even more devastating for the Trump administration is the leaked information that it was a diplomatic ambush from the very beginning.
No magic intercepts were needed, we now learn from Iraq, to arrange for the assassination of Soleimani. We now learn that the ambush was staged through diplomatic channels, drawing Soleimani to Iraq in order to receive an offer of reduced sanctions from President Trump.
General Qassem Soleimani landed in Iraq to meet with PM Adel Mahdi, who was to be given a message for Iran by President Trump. He was murdered instead, the diplomatic note from Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to the Iranian envoy, Soleimani, was, in fact, an invitation to an ambush.
Soleimani flew from Damascus and was killed as he left the diplomatic check-in at the Baghdad International Airport.
Iraq had been acting as intermediary between Tehran and Washington with General Soleimani acting as diplomatic representative of Iran.
Soleimani had been asked by the Iraqi government to organize and train the forces that defeated ISIS, a process that was continuing as it had been continuing in Syria in partnership with Russia and Turkey, as part of the Astana Coalition.
The actual assassination was successfully conducted with the real-time coordinates supplied by the Israelis.
Analysis
Starting another war in the Middle East – is this Trump’s way out of the ongoing impeachment lodged against him?
We all know that Bibi Netanyahu was using the same tactic in order to survive an election, and the corruption charges filed against him and his wife. Is Trump following Netanyahu’s footstep, without thinking about the thousands of consequences for such an unprovoked action?
Or is this really the plan from the very beginning?… to create the need for the military industrial complex to come in, and shore up the price of “defense” related stocks in the market, where Trump himself has huge investments in?
The gamechanging entry of the Iranian Quds Brigade under the command of Major General Qassem Soleimani into the Syrian theater of war against ISIS invasion of Syria is one of his most stellar accomplishments against Israel and the CIA.
“You are witnessing what they [the Americans] are doing in Iraq and Syria. They are taking revenge on Hashd al-Sha’abi because it paralyzed and [eventually] eliminated Daesh, which they [the Americans] had created and nurtured,” the Leader said at a meeting on Wednesday…
‘Foreign spy services had hand in riots’
Ayatollah Khamenei also commented on the violent riots that hit several Iranian cities in mid-November on the back of a series of popular protests over a government decision to increase fuel prices.
The Leader said the people had some demands, but that the enemy quickly intervened to take advantage of those demands and commit acts of vandalism.
The people’s vigilance came to light when they broke ranks with the rioters, who were trying to hide behind ordinary protesters.
“The main culprits of the mid-November riots and the attacks on infrastructure such as gasoline storage sites, wheat warehouses and public property were linked to foreign intelligence agencies,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
On the first day of the riots, the Leader added, the Americans jumped for joy, but they became disappointed shortly afterwards as the riots came to end and they failed to achieve what they wanted.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/01/01/615090/Iran-Leader-Seyyed-Ali-Khamenei%C2%A0
The Iraqis and their government have since been working with the Iranians after realizing that they were just pawns in the “war of terror”, which only benefits Israel and petrodollar countries in the Middle East.
This Iran-Iraq security cooperation is part of a larger coordinated action against the Western Criminal Cabal that has been fomenting endless wars wherever energy and other rare natural resources are present.
Just a few days ago, a combined naval exercise was held between Iran, China and Russia near Iranian waters, in order to send a message that both Russia and China will not stand idly by while the US is demonizing and sanctioning Iran without cause.
Despite of this warning, the Soleimani assassination is nothing short of a US declaration of war against Iran, and it has Trump’s signature in it.
Is the US prepared for another round of Eastern Alliance multipronged offensives?
Others have understood this Trump tweet to be a conciliatory one, but we consider it in reference to the Nuclear Treaty struck during Obama’s tenure where about $70 billion Iranian money, sequestered during a decade of sanctions, was returned to the Iranians as part of the deal to stop its nuclear program.
Whatever the immediate gameplay is, it has been known that the Jesuit/Rothschild faction of the Criminal Cabal will never surrender Apartheid Israel to anyone. These people are obsessed with fulfilling the scenario described in their own scriptures that created the idea for a Greater Israel.
For such a grand plan to become a reality, the US Armed Forces will be at the frontlines, and just like in Nazi Germany, the Germans “knew nothing about what’s going on, while their armed goons were just following Fuhrer Hitler’s orders.”
Either way, they are all guilty by way of commission, i.e. killing the wrong enemies, and omission, i.e. by not doing anything to eliminate the Deep State scourge within their own government.
America’s Insatiable Military
The Pentagon failed to explain a total of $21 trillion expenditures, yet there’s no congressional hearing as wide ranging as the Trump-Putin collusion ever happening. Continue reading America’s Insatiable Military
History’s Dire Warning: Beware False-Flag Trigger for Long-Sought War with Iran
Israel’s “false flag” attack on the U.S.S. Liberty in 1967 cost 34 American lives. Dick Cheney planned to disguise U.S. troops as Iranians to fire on American ships to start a war. With Bolton and Israel on the warpath, the risk of another similar act is higher than ever. Continue reading History’s Dire Warning: Beware False-Flag Trigger for Long-Sought War with Iran