Tag: iran

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi killed in helicopter crash along with foreign minister, state media confirm

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, along with the country’s foreign minister and others, were found dead Monday morning hours after their helicopter crashed in dense fog in a mountainous region of the country’s northwest, state media reported. Raisi was 63.

The crash comes at a hugely tumultuous time for the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war, during which Raisi, under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month. Under Raisi, Iran has enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, further escalating tension with the West as Tehran also supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast such as Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

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Helicopter Carrying Iranian President and Mass Murderer Ebrahim Raisi Crashes – Rescue Effort Being Hampered by Bad Weather Conditions

A helicopter carrying Iranian President and mass murderer Ebrahim Raisi crashed while visiting a northern region and his condition is currently unknown according to reports.

In addition to Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, along with other officials and bodyguards, were on the flight. The helicopter has been rpeortedly located around the village of Uzi in the forests of Arsbaran.

Twenty rescue teams and drones have been sent to the area. But emergency crews have so far been unable to reach the location due to foggy conditions.

Below is a video of the rescue teams attempting to locate Raisi’s helicopter.

Iranian state television described the incident as an “accident.”

The Guardian reports that the semi-official Fars news agency has urged Iranians to pray for Ebrahim Raisi, and state TV carried prayers for his safety.

According to CNN, Raisi’s helicopter was part of a convoy of three helicopters. The other two helicopters were carrying ministers and officials who arrived at their destination safely.

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The Insanity of the Regime Changers

Garry Kasparov calls for more regime changes in The Wall Street Journal:

A war can’t be won by following the rules set in peacetime. The only way to win this long war is through regime change in Moscow and Tehran. Such change will be brought closer by isolating Russia and Iran politically and economically and by halting their foreign aggression.

Kasparov’s argument is deranged, but it is useful in reminding us how extreme and dangerous this worldview is. If hardliners like Kasparov had their way, they would unleash chaos and instability unlike anything most of us have seen in our lifetimes. The same people that want to set the world on fire are constantly warning us that if we don’t do what they want that we face “a global catastrophe the likes of which we have never seen,” but it is clear that they are the ones demanding that the U.S. initiate such a catastrophe with overly aggressive policies.

If the only way to “win” is regime change in two countries, that tells us that winning is not a realistic goal. Kasparov seems to think that setting a goal, no matter how unhinged or far-fetched, is all that matters. Is the goal achievable at a reasonable cost? He doesn’t care about that. He writes, “Supporting Ukraine until it is whole and free is a goal. Promoting long-term peace in Europe and the Middle East by doing everything possible to accelerate the downfall of hostile regimes in Russia and Iran is a goal.” It’s true that these are goals in the same way that saying you want to fly to the moon is a goal.

The surest way to destroy international support for Ukraine is to adopt an insane, maximalist goal of regime change in Russia. Many governments are willing to back a policy aimed at defending against an aggressor, but they are not going to support one that threatens to destabilize a large part of Eurasia and potentially risk significant escalation from Moscow. Seeking to topple both governments is also a good way to encourage the Russian government to increase its threats of using nuclear weapons and to push the Iranian government into pursuing their own nuclear arsenal. The worst thing that the U.S. could do is convince these governments that they are in a fight for their survival.

Regime change is almost never the right answer. When it “works” and the targeted regime is toppled, it typically creates many more problem and dangers than it eliminates. When it fails and backfires, it leads to even greater hostility and it could lead to direct conflict. We know that setting regime change as an official goal can pave the way for war later when other means fail to bring down the government. The U.S. should not seek war with Russia or Iran, and so it should not adopt a policy that makes that war much more likely.

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Iran, US mutual delusions pave a path to war

For the umpteenth time, the U.S. and Iran have come close to an open war neither side wants.

The Israelis strike a building within the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, killing senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Iranians, with unintended irony, protest this violation of diplomatic premises, and almost start a war with Israel by launching hundreds of drones and missiles that the U.S., given ample warning, helps to inter­cept. The Israelis launch a counterstrike to demonstrate its ability to evade Iran’s defenses. That appears to end the exchange until the next round.

Sooner or later, if the U.S. and the Islamic Republic are going to avoid such a lose-lose conflict, the two sides will need to stop shouting and start talking. Forty-five years of exchanging empty slogans, accusa­tions, threats, and denunci­a­tions have accomplished little beyond furthering a few political careers and feed­ing a sense of self-righteousness. For suc­cessive U.S. adminis­trations, Iran remains a problem that will not go away.

To para­phrase Trotsky, “You may have no business with Iran; but Iran has business with you.” For Iran, the U.S. remains an obsession. The more Iran’s hated rulers denounce it, the more attractive it becomes — as both a role model and a destination — to a savvy popula­tion suffering from inflation, unemployment, and the stern, miso­gynistic dictates of an aging and ossified ruling elite.

The Islamic Republic, despite the wishes of many Iranians and their friends, is probably not going away soon. In the first months after the fall of the monarchy, the most-asked question in Tehran was, “When are THEY leaving?” (Inhaa key mirand?). Forty-five years later THEY are still in charge and show no signs of packing their bags.

Why should we talk to the Islamic Republic, when it has the appalling history that it does? Why should we talk when its overriding policy principle is, in the words of one Iranian official, “opposition to you”? We need to talk because talking (and listening) to an adversary means serving our national interests by communicating. Talking never means either approval of or affection for the Islamic Republic.

Talking to the Islamic Republic is not going to bring down that government, persuade the ruling clerics to step aside, or persuade them to stop repressing its women, musicians, journalists, lawyers, students and academics. Talking is not going to end the ruling clerics’ bizarre obsessions with con­trolling every trivial detail of Iranians’ private lives. What talking does is allow each side to present its point of view and to correct the dangerous “mythperceptions” that have prevented the U.S. and Iran from breaking out of a 45-year downward spiral of futility.

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Israeli Warplanes Strike Damascus As Iran Tensions Still On Edge

Israeli aircraft have reportedly attacked a location on the outskirts of the Syrian capital of Damascus late Thursday (local), a security source told Reuters.

Widely circulating images have emerged on social media showing plumes of smoke rising high over buildings which were struck. Syrian state media subsequently said that eight army soldiers were injured in the attack. 

The fresh Israeli aggression could be another targeted assassination operation against Iranian generals or IRGC officers, and certainly would also be intended to signal Israel remains undeterred by Iran’s April 13th attack, which was in retaliation for the prior Israeli attack on Iran’s embassy in Damascus.

According to unverified social media reports: 

The Israeli attack against Syria targeted the building of the Syrian State Security branch in the “Najha” area in the Damascus countryside.

There has been some speculation that this is an Israeli response to the launch of rockets from the Syrian side towards the Golan Heights earlier in the day and week.

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Israel has carried out a strike inside Iran, US official tells CNN, as region braces for further escalation

Israel has carried out a military strike inside Iran, a US official told CNN Friday, a potentially dangerous escalation in a fast widening Middle East conflict that Iranian government officials have so far sought to play down.

Iran’s air defense systems were activated in the cities of Isfahan and Tabriz after three explosions were heard close to a major military airbase near Isfahan, state media reported early Friday morning.

Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, the commander-in-chief of Iran’s army, said the explosions in the sky above Isfahan were related to anti-aircraft systems shooting at what he called a suspicious object, which did not cause any damage, Iranian state news IRNA reported. Other Iranian officials said air defenses intercepted three drones and there were no reports of a missile attack.

Iran has not identified the source of the strike.

The United States was given advance notification Thursday of an intended Israeli strike in the coming days, but did not endorse the response, a second senior US official said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken later confirmed the US “has not been involved in any offensive operations,” but was focusing on Israel’s defense and de-escalation.

The US was “informed at the last minute” about the attack on Iran, Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said at a news conference to conclude a meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) nations in Capri, Italy, which Blinken also attended.

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The attack on Nevatim airbase: the truth behind the propaganda

By now, most of the world knows that Iran launched a multi-faceted attack against Israel about 48 hours ago.  The “fallout” from that attack is now becoming frighteningly clear, and it has Defense Experts TERRIFIED.

As the attack was in-progress, Iran undertook a very unusual, and apparently foolish, series of steps.  They announced they had launched drones and then cruise missiles against Israel.  They announced this despite the fact the drones and missiles still had 57 more minutes to travel before reaching their targets!   

Expert Observers thought it very strange – and foolish – that an attacker would give out such information while the very weapons they launched had not yet arrived.  It gave Israel and its allies time to go after those weapons, which they did.

Well . . . it turns out this was not strange or foolish – it was planned.  Iran launched the old dregs of their arsenal!  First generation drones. First generation cruise missiles.  What they launched was the junk they had laying around for years!  Slow moving, loud, junk.  Iran WANTED Israeli defenses to focus on that old junk, and not on what they would fire next: Ballistic Missiles.

Many of the drones simply fell out of the sky from malfunctions.  Others were easily intercepted by fighter jets from Israel, the US, and the UK, with some help from French naval assets in the Mediterranean Sea. 

There was a much-heralded “99% interception success rate” broadcast around the world for all to hear.  Turns out, there’s a problem.  A MAJOR problem: Iran’s Ballistic Missiles.   A few of them, got through.

Almost no one noticed this “problem” because there has been no media coverage of it, until this article.

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WHY? Seattle Police Department Announces They Are ‘Closely Monitoring Conflict Between Israel and Iran’

The Seattle Police Department has announced that they are ‘Closely Monitoring Conflict Between Israel and Iran’ for some reason.

Don’t the police in Seattle have A LOT more pressing issues to keep an eye on, right at home in their own city?

Is it possible that this is some bizarre effort to endear the police to the crazy leftists in Seattle who are obsessed with what’s happening in the Middle East?

They actually put out an announcement about this.

From their blotter:

SPD is Closely Monitoring Conflict Between Israel and Iran

The Seattle Police Department is closely monitoring the conflict between Israel and Iran and are working with local and federal agencies to ensure the safety of Seattle community members.

As a precaution, we will proactively increase patrols around infrastructures and sensitive areas. SPD’s Community liaisons are working with community leaders as a prevention measure. Currently there are no specific or credible threats.

As always SPD is committed to the safety of Seattle community members.

People have thoughts about this.

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Biden OK’d Iran Strike, Tells Israel To ‘Take The Win’: Reports

Reports are circulating that the Biden Administration green lighted Iran’s attack on Israel, stipulating that it had to be “within certain limits,” and is now telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ‘take the win,’ rather than retaliate.

Reuters reports that Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, according to a Turkish diplomatic source, who explained that Washington had conveyed to Tehran via Ankara that any action it took must not cross any red lines.

The source further told Reuters that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had spoken to both his U.S. and Iranian counterparts in the past week regarding the planned Iranian attack, and that all parties were aware it was going to happen.

“Iran informed us in advance of what would happen. Possible developments also came up during the meeting with [U.S. Secretary of State Antony] Blinken, and they (the U.S.) conveyed to Iran through us that this reaction must be within certain limits,” the source said.

“In response, Iran said the reaction would be a response to Israel’s attack on its embassy in Damascus and that it would not go beyond this,” the source added.

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Israel’s Defense Against Iran Attack Overnight ‘Likely Cost Over $1 Billion’

It cost Israel more than $1bn to activate its defense systems that intercepted Iran’s massive drone and missile attack overnight,  according to a former financial adviser to Israel’s military. 

“The defence tonight was on the order of 4-5bn shekels [$1-1.3bn] per night,” estimated Brigadier General Reem Aminoach in an interview with Ynet news.

Aminoach highlighted that the staggering price tag stands in contrast to the relatively low amount that Iran had spent to launch its assault, which some estimates have put at less than 10 percent of what it cost Israel to stop the attack. 

Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles towards Israel on Saturday, in response to an Israeli attack on its consulate in Syria that killed two senior Revolutionary Guard commanders earlier this month.

Israel said its military forces and its allies had intercepted 99 percent of the missiles, but some ballistic missiles penetrated Israeli defences and hit the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel. 

“If we’re talking about ballistic missiles that need to be brought down with an Arrow system, cruise missiles that need to be brought down with other missiles, and UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], which we actually bring down mainly with fighter jets,” he said. 

“Then add up the costs – $3.5m for an Arrow missile, $1m for a David’s Sling, such and such costs for jets. An order of magnitude of 4-5bn shekels.”

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