Of course most Americans don’t want such a war, and President Trump didn’t intend to start one, but we now have one nonetheless. Over the past few days, vast hordes of Iranians mourning the death of Qassem Soleimani have been
literally screaming
for “war” and “revenge” at the top of their lungs. And as you will see below, the top military adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei just told CNN that our two nations are already at war. So it isn’t our decision to make. The Iranians are going to be shooting at us whether we shoot back or not.
Perhaps you think that I am exaggerating.
Well, I would like for you to consider some of the statements that Major General Hossein Dehghan made during an exclusive interview with CNN. Dehghan is the top military adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei, and he is promising that Iran will soon
“take direct action against America”
…
“It might be argued that there could be proxy operations. We can say America, Mr. Trump, has taken action directly against us — so we take direct action against America.”
In common with other Iranian officials, Dehghan suggested that Iran was in no hurry to retaliate and would choose its targets carefully. “Our reaction will be wise, well considered and in time, with decisive deterrent effect.”
But just because Iran plans to hit us back really hard does not mean that a war has begun.
“The only thing that can end this period of war is for the Americans to receive a blow that is equal to the blow they have inflicted. Afterward they should not seek a new cycle.”
The Iranians clearly believe that a “period of war” has already started.
And we are being told that the only way for this “period of war” to end is for Iran to inflict a blow upon us that is equal to the blow that we inflicted on them.
So what would be equal to the loss of Qassem Soleimani in the eyes of the Iranians?
Soleimani was one of the greatest heroes in the modern history of Iran, and hundreds of thousands of mourners have poured into the streets over the past couple of days
to express their grief
…
Crowds mourning the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani continued to flood the streets of the capital as his funeral procession dragged into the night.
Earlier in the day hundreds of thousands of people swamped central Tehran to express their outpouring of grief at the death of the revered leader of the elite Quds Force, who was assassinated in a US drone strike in Iraq on Friday.
After following his casket through the capital, Soleimani’s body was transported to the holy city of Qom where a ceremony at Masumeh shrine will be held ahead of his burial in his hometown tomorrow.
It is going to take a great deal for the Iranians to feel that they have extracted sufficient vengeance. And Dehghan foreshadowed what may be coming when he made
this statement to CNN
…
“No American military staff, no American political center, no American military base, no American vessel will be safe.”
And other key Iranian leaders are saying similar things.
Esmail Ghaani, who has replaced Qassem Soleimani as head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, has warned the US that Iran will retaliate to last week’s drone attack. He told Iranian state television that “God the Almighty has promised to get his revenge” for the killing of Mr Soleimani. The newly appointed chief said that actions would “certainly” be taken.
Mr Ghaani also pledged to “continue down martyr Soleimani’s path”, after US officials claimed they assassinated the Iranian general because intelligence showed he was plotting “imminent attacks” on US officials.
Even more ominously,
the New York Times is reporting
that Ayatollah Khamenei himself has mandated that American interests must be attacked directly by Iranian forces…
In the tense hours following the American killing of a top Iranian military commander, the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made a rare appearance at a meeting of the government’s National Security Council to lay down the parameters for any retaliation. It must be a direct and proportional attack on American interests, he said, openly carried out by Iranian forces themselves, three Iranians familiar with the meeting said Monday.
Of course most Americans absolutely do not want a war with Iran.
In fact, I would guess that probably about two-thirds of all U.S. citizens will be against a war with Iran when a national survey is taken.
But that doesn’t matter to the Iranians. They are going to start shooting at us, and they want to make us hurt as much as possible.
Iranian MP Abolfazl Abutorabi has reportedly threatened to attack the White House in response to a message from President Trump that promised severe consequences if the Islamic nation escalates hostilities with the U.S.
Abutorabi was responding to a question about how Iran should react to the death of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani during an American airstrike, The Independent reported.
“We can attack the White House itself, we can respond to them on the American soil. We have the power, and God willing we will respond in an appropriate time,” Abutorabi said according to the UK publication, which cited Iranian news agency ILNA.
So you can debate about whether there will be a war or not all you want, but the truth is that everyone should really be trying to figure out how to end the war that has already started.
And at this point, I don’t know if anything can be done to stop events
from spinning wildly out of control
. Every time Iran hits us, Trump is going to hit them back even harder, and neither side is going to back down any time soon.
At this hour, more U.S. troops are headed to the Middle East. In addition to the deployment of thousands of troops from the 82nd Airborne Division, a couple thousand Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit
have been diverted to the Middle East
…
Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) will now head to Iraq aboard the USS Bataan (LHD-5) amphibious assault ship to join other U.S. troops recently called upon to bolster security measures and military readiness in the country, according to USNI News.
According to the USNI Fleet Tracker, the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group had just arrived off the coast of Morocco this week as tensions have risen with Iran. The Marines aboard had planned to train with Moroccan military members, as part of the joint Exercise African Sea Lion, before the apparent change in plans.
Even more importantly, six B-52 bombers have just been deployed
to Diego Garcia
…
The U.S. Air Force is deploying six B-52 bombers to Diego Garcia, an island base in the Indian Ocean, amid the rising threat of Iran retaliating after a U.S.-led airstrike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The move, which was first reported by CNN, is the latest in efforts by U.S. military officials to bolster resources near the Middle East after the Iraqi Shia militia Kataib Hezbollah hinted at possible retaliatory attacks to avenge Soleimani’s death.
I wish that it wasn’t true, but war is here.
Will this conflict eventually evolve into World War 3, or can we still be pulled back from the brink somehow?
Only time will tell, but I would definitely encourage everyone to get prepared for a worst case scenario.
