The number of confirmed deaths from Iran&#8217;s crackdown on protesters continued to rise on Monday. Newly released statistics from Amnesty International state that the confirmed number is now over 200.
&#8220;The number of people believed to have been killed during demonstrations in Iran that broke out on 15 November has risen to at least 208,&#8221; Amnesty International reported based on what it described as &#8220;credible reports received by the organization.&#8221;
The organization added that &#8220;the real figure is likely to be higher.&#8221;
&#8220;This alarming death toll is further evidence that Iran’s security forces went on a horrific killing spree, that left at least 208 people dead in less than a week. This shocking death toll displays the Iranian authorities’ shameful disregard for human life,&#8221; said Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. &#8220;Those responsible for this bloody clampdown on demonstrations must be held accountable for their actions. Since the Iranian authorities have previously shown they are unwilling to carry out independent, impartial and effective investigations into unlawful killings and other arbitrary use of force against protesters, we are calling on the international community to help ensure accountability.&#8221;
The Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI) reported on Monday that Dr. Leila Vaseghi, governor of Shahr-e Qods, West Tehran Province admitted on Iranian state television that she ordered protesters to be shot at.
&#8220;I said [to the policemen]: Whoever passes the door to the governor’s building – shoot him!&#8221; Vaseghi said, according to a translation of her remarks by MEMRI.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Iranian Municipal Official Dr. Leila Vaseghi: I Gave Police Orders to Shoot at Protesters <a href="https://t.co/YLI5RZlCIG">pic.twitter.com/YLI5RZlCIG</a>
&mdash; MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://twitter.com/MEMRIReports/status/1201443002536931330?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Recently, MEMRI <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unprecedented-iran-kills-hundreds-of-unarmed-protesters-warns-it-may-kill-thousands-in-crackdown-on-protests">reported</a> on additional troubling remarks made on Iranian state television, including by a Quran “expert” who said that the protesters should be brutally slaughtered and an imam who said that those who disrupt public security should receive the &#8220;harshest&#8221; punishments possible.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/01/world/middleeast/iran-protests-deaths.html">reported</a> over the weekend that up to 450 protesters had been killed by the Iranian government with thousands more wounded and even more detained by the Islamic Regime.
The single largest alleged massacre committed by the Islamic Republic guards happened in the city of Mahshahr, where “Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps members surrounded, shot and killed 40 to 100 demonstrators – mostly unarmed young men – in a sugar cane field where they had sought refuge,” the Times reported.
Omid Memarian, who is deputy director at the Center for Human Rights in Iran, told the Times: “The recent use of lethal force against people throughout the country is unprecedented, even for the Islamic Republic and its record of violence.”
The protests initially started over a surprise increase in fuel prices that threatened to further disrupt Iran&#8217;s devastated economy.
&#8220;Iran shut down internet access amid the unrest, blocking those inside the country from sharing their videos and information, as well as limiting the outside world from knowing the scale of the protests and violence,&#8221; PBS News Hour <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/at-least-200-killed-in-iran-protests-and-government-crackdown-amnesty-says">reported</a>. &#8220;While not drawing as many Iranians into the streets as those protesting the disputed 2009 presidential election, the gasoline price demonstrations rapidly turned violent faster than any previous rallies. That shows the widespread economic discontent gripping the country since May 2018, when President Donald Trump imposed crushing sanctions after unilaterally withdrawing from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.&#8221;

Iran

Death Toll Continues To Rise From Iran’s Crackdown On Protesters, Amnesty International Says

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps

Since December 2017, a sort of “rolling rebellion” has been occurring across Iran. It is bigger, deeper and stronger than the Green Revolution of 2009 and taking place in great measure outside Tehran, <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2017/01/04/non-persian-iran/">where the population is more diverse</a>. There have been strikes of truckers, bazaar shopkeepers, teachers, farmers, and students. See #WhiteWednesday on Twitter to watch brave Iranian women go into the streets and take off their head coverings. Sometimes they dance. Sometimes their husbands, fathers, and brothers go with them. Sometimes they are arrested and sometimes they go to jail. Unfortunately, it took the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-10-04/death-of-irans-blue-girl-casts-spotlight-on-iranian-women-and-a-growing-movement-for-equality">suicide of a young woman</a> facing seven years in prison for attending a soccer match to get the attention of the Western press.
In May of this year, <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2019/05/03/the-iranian-mullahs-are-nervous/">widespread upheaval</a> convulsed the country and thousands were arrested. This weekend, news of increasing protest in Iran comes from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) — an organization with a mixed record of acceptance by the U.S. government, but with indisputable reach inside the country. According to NCRI’s Washington office, at least 65 cities have seen violent demonstrations, with people killed and injured by authorities. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Mojahedineng/videos">Videos, presumably from cell phones</a>, show that pictures of the Ayatollah Khameini have been set on fire and demonstrators are chanting “Death to the Dictator” and “Death to Rouhani.” You can follow <a href="https://twitter.com/AlirezaNader">@AlirezaNader</a> for more.
As Iran spreads its tentacles abroad and builds its illegal nuclear capability, it is clear that the regime cannot fund domestic priorities and international revolution on the same budget — especially as that budget contracts.
Imperial overreach was the ruin of the Roman Empire, the Byzantines, Egyptians, Ottomans, Nazis, and Soviets. Could it be catching up with Iran? Wait, you say, Iran isn’t an empire. Not in the traditional sense. But it was always the belief of the hegemonic mullahs that instability across large regions, managed with a relatively small group of well-trained Iranian professionals and a lot of proxy fighters, would create a world in which Shiite supremacism held sway.
And it was working.
The Shiite Crescent — from Iran through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to the Mediterranean — was a “lid” over Iran’s Sunni enemies Saudi Arabia and Jordan, plus Israel. It was also a wedge between Sunni Turkey and the Sunni countries below — Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the Gulf states. Most of the proxy soldiers were Iraqi militias, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Pakistanis and Afghans brought to Syria under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The result was millions of Sunni Syrian refugees in the Middle East and Europe.
Sunni Hamas and Shiite Palestinian Islamic Jihad were both recipients of Iranian funds, weapons, and training to harass Israel.
There is also an underside Crescent, which is less well understood. It encircles the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia in the Gulf of Aden with a base in Yemen and a Houthi proxy at the bottom of the Red Sea, threatening the Bab el Mandeb Straits and the exit of Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia to the Gulf and the Indian Ocean. And the American base in Djibouti.
And Africa. Iran incubated Sunni jihadists in the poor, corrupt, and vulnerable states of the second tier — Sudan, Chad, Niger, and Mali. The result was waves of migrants headed north. The North African countries — Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria — were all in the NATO Mediterranean Dialogue group that helped control safety and security in the sea until the Obama administration toppled the Libyan government in 2011. Libya, no longer a member of the Dialogue, has become a hole in the dam through which hundreds of thousands of African migrants reached Europe.
But has the empire reached too far?
American-led sanctions have been an enormous financial blow to the mullahs, but sanctions are misunderstood. Not a mechanism for toppling a government, they are a means of forcing a government to make choices — between, revolution and agriculture, between weapons and water and sewer systems, between Palestinian jihadists and schools, and so forth. That is what Iran faced in 2011 and that is what led to the Iran/P5+1 negotiations. The fact that President Obama collapsed and paid off the mullahs allowed them to avoid those very choices and set back the operation by years and millions of deaths in the Middle East and Africa.
The restoration of sanctions means Iran has less to pay off its proxies — as well as less for its own people. European businesses, and even China, are leaving Iran and taking their money. Iran tried to compensate by stealing Iraqi oil.
And that’s where empire begins to break down.
There are explicitly anti-Iranian <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bryen-missing-the-point-of-the-latest-middle-east-protests">riots in Lebanon and Iraq</a>. Hezbollah fighters have announced they will <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2019/1112/Inside-Hezbollah-How-Lebanon-protests-are-breaking-fear-barrier">refuse to return to Syria</a> for Iran. Iraqis have <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2019/10/29/missing-the-point-of-the-latest-middle-east-protests/">attacked Iranian bases and depots</a>. Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi">@HeshmatAlavi</a> for the latest Iraqi moves and Iranian counter-moves. But most of the mainstream press isn’t there.
But the biggest changes may be coming in Iran itself.
&nbsp;
Shoshana Bryen is senior director of <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/">The Jewish Policy Center</a>. Portions of this article appeared in the Jewish Policy Center magazine, inFOCUS Quarterly.

Iranian flag on conference table

BRYEN: Has The Iranian Empire Overreached?

Foreign Policy

Iraq

Israel

Lebanon

Middle East

Nuclear Weapons

Radical Islam

Saudi Arabia

Over the past few weeks, frustrated and fed-up demonstrators have taken to the streets of Lebanon and Iraq to voice grievances against their respective governments. The perception of Iranian infiltration and influence certainly continue to impact this political shake-up in both countries.
These protests have toppled two governments in just three days. Saad Hariri, Lebanon’s prime minister, announced his resignation last week. Iraq’s President, Barham Sailh, stated that prime minister Abdul Mahdi had also agreed to resign from office once a successor is decided upon.
In both Iraq and Lebanon, political factions are divided by religions and sects. These government systems are designed to limit sectarian conflict by ensuring a share of power to different communities. However, in both regions, prominent Shia parties are conjoined with Iran. Since protesters are demanding an end to their governments’ power-sharing system, Tehran is in trouble.
Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/11/04/iraq-lebanons-protesters-may-achieve-what-trumps-maximum-pressure-could-not/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/11/04/iraq-lebanons-protesters-may-achieve-what-trumps-maximum-pressure-could-not/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1573659006406000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH9507ho6UnPJsWU4Gv7Qe-ocbJlg">announced</a> via Twitter on Thursday that “the [protesters] have justifiable demands, but they should know their demands can only be fulfilled within the legal structure and framework of their country. When the legal structure is disrupted in a country, no action can be carried out.”
This statement, riddled with irony, completely discounts the revolution which birthed the government Khamenei currently leads. The ayatollah also verified how deeply entrenched Hezbollah has become in Lebanon’s political fabric.
Hezbollah is certainly the Islamic Republic of Iran’s most successful export. For over two decades, Tehran has played the role of puppetmaster in Beirut, attempting to counter the influence of its enemies: The U.S., Israel, and Saudi Arabia. Hezbollah’s critical influence in the region was demonstrated both during the 2006 war with Israel and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp’s (IRGC) intervention in the Syrian conflict.
Although Hezbollah’s military wing, the IRGC, was rightfully designated as a terror organization in April by President Trump, the organization’s military and political wings work in tandem to export the regime’s disturbing agenda. In 2017, the U.S. State Department <a href="https://www.idf.il/en/minisites/hezbollah/hezbollah/hezbollah-a-recognized-terrorist-organization/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.idf.il/en/minisites/hezbollah/hezbollah/hezbollah-a-recognized-terrorist-organization/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1573659006406000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGWt-R1FsqMA7l37ceRCAYaIBtJ2w">designated</a> over 250 operatives and 150 companies with Hezbollah ties. Last year, the details of Project Cassandra <a href="https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-hezbollah-drug-trafficking-investigation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-hezbollah-drug-trafficking-investigation/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1573659006406000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEhFjIOWb4twZvOTRcDKDBzkixi9w">exposed</a> the sophistication and breadth of Hezbollah’s billion-dollar criminal enterprise.
Since Tehran heavily invests in Hezbollah’s role globally, these protests do not bode well for the regime.  Iranian leadership clearly grasps the magnitude of these demonstrations, since its officials have attempted to paint them as manifestations of foreign meddling. Supreme Leader Khamenei has accused “U.S. and Western intelligence services, with the financial backing of evil countries,” of orchestrating these protests.
In Iraq, anti-Iran sentiment has monopolized the demonstrations. Last week in Baghdad, protesters were pictured torching an Iranian flag. Protestors on Sunday <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/world/middleeast/iraq-protests-iran.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/world/middleeast/iraq-protests-iran.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1573659006406000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFyzwXtfOkhPZHY3VWwKlswwqEo3A">threw</a> gasoline bombs at the Iranian consulate in Karbala. The former head of the Iraqi National Archives <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/world/middleeast/iraq-protests-iran.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/world/middleeast/iraq-protests-iran.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1573659006406000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFyzwXtfOkhPZHY3VWwKlswwqEo3A">explained</a> that “the revolution is not anti-American; it is anti-Iran, it is anti-religion, [and] anti-political religion, not religion as such.” Pro-Iranian paramilitary forces have violently intervened in recent demonstrations. Since October 1st, the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-protests-police-shoot-baghdad-green-zone-death-toll-a9197476.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-protests-police-shoot-baghdad-green-zone-death-toll-a9197476.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1573659006406000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEkI-WP8Umw4Hp79ckXqn2VApOcww">reports</a> that 301 protesters have been killed, and thousands more injured.
As Tehran continues to dismiss these protests as inauthentic and foreign-led, demonstrators will only gain more momentum. While Iran grapples with the economic consequences of President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign, it may not be able to ultimately survive the onslaught of these dual protests.
 
Maya Carlin is an M.A. candidate in Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Security at IDC Herzliya’s Lauder School of Government in Israel. She is also the Associate Producer at the Center for Security Policy, located in Washington D.C.

Middle East map

CARLIN: Is Iran Losing The Middle East?

It is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51924/mike-pence-warns-iran-were-locked-and-loaded-jacob-airey">increasingly likely</a> that Saudi Arabia and Iran, longtime regional foes and proxies for the broader Sunni/Shiite theological divide in the Islamic world, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-aramco-iran-rouhani/irans-rouhani-says-aramco-attacks-were-a-reciprocal-response-by-yemen-idUSKBN1W12AE">could be heading for war</a>. Both nations are governed by sharia-based legal regimes, and each has a troubled history when it comes to promoting, financing, and exporting Islamist extremism over the course of the past century. At first glance, one might be inclined to look at this internecine Islamic spat and conclude as Sarah Palin <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/sarah-palin-let-allah-sort-it-out-096128">once did</a>: &#8220;Let Allah sort it out.&#8221;
But cynicism of this magnitude is not actually warranted. The United States has a clear and strategically unmistakable interest in any potential armed conflict that were to escalate between the Saudis and the Iranians. That interest, put simply, is to stand firmly with our <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/04/10/media-war-saudi-arabia/">Saudi allies</a>.
For decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the preeminent funder and exporter of radical Sunni jihadism. The hardline Wahhabist- and Salafist-inspired brand of Sunni Islam that dominated the Saudi clerisy resulted in tangible detrimental outcomes for the liberal West. The Saudis funded more radical Sunni madrasas the world over than any other Arab nation and were oftentimes the leading miscreants in the Arab world&#8217;s decades-long (technically, still ongoing) <a href="http://www.sixdaywar.org/content/khartoum.asp">diplomatic</a> campaign against the legitimacy of Israel. Concomitantly, the Saudis were long viewed as the leading Arab cheerleaders for Yasser Arafat and his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46068/hammer-yes-united-states-was-right-deny-entry-bds-josh-hammer">inherently jihadist</a> &#8220;Palestinian liberation&#8221; cause. The Kingdom funded and promoted the global <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46714/hammer-designating-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-josh-hammer">Muslim Brotherhood</a>, the 20th-century progenitor of contemporary Sunni jihadism and the over-arching organization for which the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44732/hammer-israel-must-destroy-hamas-once-and-all-josh-hammer">genocidal death cult</a> of Hamas merely serves as the Palestinian-Arab branch. Many Saudi elites and clerics famously <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/documents/evidence-of-financial-links-between-saudi-royal-family-and-al-qaeda">mollycoddled</a> al-Qaeda in the years leading up to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/27/us/september-11th-hijackers-fast-facts/index.html">September 11, 2001</a>. And so forth.
That is all undoubtedly very, very, very bad. But it is crucial to recognize that much has changed in the Islamic world over the past decade or two.
Over the past ten to fifteen years, and rapidly accelerating under the recent leadership of the more forward-thinking and realpolitik-inclined Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), the Kingdom has taken tremendous steps to diminish the influence of the Wahhabist clerics, to cease the funding and exportation of radical madrasas abroad, and to unequivocally distance itself from the Muslim Brotherhood. MBS has even gone so far as to (accurately) <a href="http://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/46574/Bin-Salman-Muslim-Brotherhood-incubator-for-terrorists">dub</a> the Brotherhood an &#8220;incubator for all terrorists.&#8221; Jared Kushner and other Trump administration officials, seeing a natural anti-Islamist ally in the crown prince, have <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/03/jared-kushner-saudi-arabia-mbs-meeting">cultivated and nourished</a> a reinvigorated bilateral relationship. The Saudis have also <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Palestinians-in-bid-to-avert-real-crisis-with-Saudi-Arabia-597538">all but completely forsaken</a> the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48018/hammer-jared-kushner-right-palestinians-do-not-josh-hammer">noxious</a>, anti-Jewish Palestinian-Arab &#8220;liberation&#8221; cause, preferring instead to dramatically warm up to Israel in hitherto unimaginable ways. The Saudis, while still prone to military and strategic crassness, are more so than ever before manifestly allied with the United States on our key geopolitical interests and priorities in the Middle East.
The elephant in the room for much of the Middle East&#8217;s broader realignment is, of course, the so-called &#8220;Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action&#8221; — then-President Barack Obama&#8217;s harrowing nuclear deal capitulation to the mullahs of the world&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43339/hammer-iranian-revolution-forty-years-old-stand-josh-hammer">number one state sponsor of jihadism</a>, Iran. Obama, under the cataclysmic &#8220;guidance&#8221; of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/magazine/the-aspiring-novelist-who-became-obamas-foreign-policy-guru.html">failed novelist</a> Ben Rhodes, sought to reorient America&#8217;s interests in the Middle East away from Israel and its historic Sunni allies — namely, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt — and toward Iran and the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/mohamed-morsi-who-brought-the-muslim-brotherhood-to-the-egyptian-presidency">Muslim Brotherhood</a>. In addition to empowering the terrorist, jihad-exporting mullocracy in Tehran, Obama&#8217;s disastrous shift strategic also unshackled the region&#8217;s preeminent funders of the Brotherhood and Hamas: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47456/hammer-al-jazeeras-disgraceful-holocaust-denying-josh-hammer">Qatar</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44954/report-ilhan-omar-met-2017-infamous-islamist-josh-hammer">Turkey</a>. The increasingly public thawing of tensions between the Saudis and the Emiratis — each of whom considers Iran to be something akin to an existential hegemonic threat — and Israel, in addition to the still-ongoing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017–2019_Qatar_diplomatic_crisis">embargo</a> implemented (primarily) by the Saudis and Emiratis against the <a href="https://www.meforum.org/57690/ensconced-doha-islamists">Brotherhood-funding</a> Qataris, can only be <a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/israel/2019-08-05/friends-caveats">understood through this broader prism</a>.
Iran, furthermore, is as malevolent and vicious a global actor as ever before. The mullahs still seek nuclear weapons, routinely preach &#8220;death to America&#8221; and &#8220;death to Israel,&#8221; fund Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthi rebels, and all sorts of other jihadist outfits the world over, plot <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20190109-eu-sanctions-iran-over-assassinations-peoples-mujahedeen-france-bomb-plot">targeted assassinations</a> across Europe and the broader West, and engage in deeply hostile and destructive acts of <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2019/09/16/iran-seizes-oil-tanker-allegedly-smuggling-diesel-fuel-to-uae-isna">aggression</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-tells-saudi-arabia-oil-attacks-were-launched-from-iran-11568644126">war</a> against regional foes. The Islamic Revolutionary Iranian regime has been in a state of war against the West ever since the ayatollahs&#8217; takeover in 1979, and Iran today remains one of the world&#8217;s two most rogue geopolitical actors, along with North Korea. It is a deeply hostile and repressive theocracy that has never missed an opportunity to fund jihadism against the West. Countering and thwarting Iran, in addition to the Brotherhood, is <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/43151/hammer-ted-cruzs-non-interventionist-hawk-foreign-josh-hammer">very much</a> in America&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51661/hammer-never-forget-911-we-need-rethink-how-we-josh-hammer">strategic interest</a>.
Fundamentally, the bipartisan Wilsonian foreign policy ruling class must be tempered. There is a role for morality in foreign policy, but that role is minuscule when compared with the foremost goal of a nation narrowly pursuing its own self-interest. Yes, the Saudi regime is sharia-based and is oppressive in many ways. But no, that ultimately should not deter our pursuit and defense of an indispensable strategic alliance. As I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45699/hammer-america-needs-re-think-its-global-alliances-josh-hammer">wrote</a> in April:
<blockquote>[C]onservatives must articulate a hard-headed foreign policy that, if need be, subordinates amorphous &#8220;values&#8221;-based concerns in favor of much more tangible — and much more legitimate — concerns about prioritizing and maximizing America&#8217;s national security. And in so doing, American foreign policy hands ought not to elevate the interests and clout of unaccountable transnational institutions. &#8230;
America ought to ally with self-sufficient nation-states who care about their sovereignty and share our core national security interests in deterring Russian hegemony, Chinese ambitions, and/or Islamist aggression. &#8230; [I]n the Islamic world, that means focusing more on nations like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates than it does on Islamist-exporting, Muslim Brotherhood-cozy states like Turkey and Qatar.</blockquote>
Americans should not be duped by <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/04/10/media-war-saudi-arabia/">well-oiled Qatari duplicity</a> or the Iran nuclear deal&#8217;s subversive <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2017/10/13/iran-deal-supporters-willing-sell-u-s-jihadists/">Obama bro echo chamber</a>. With Saudi-Iranian tensions flaring, America has an unambiguous interest in standing firmly with MBS and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Trump MBS Oval Office.jpg

HAMMER: The U.S. Must Side With Saudi Arabia Against Iranian Aggression

Barack Obama

Islam

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

On Sunday, after the Saturday attacks on two oil refineries in Saudi Arabia that destroyed 5% of the world’s oil supply, prompting accusations from the U.S. government that the attacks were launched by Iran, a top Iranian general boasted that U.S. sites were in range of Iranian missiles and Iran was ready for a &#8220;full-fledged&#8221; war.
Amirali Hajizadeh, who heads Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps Aerospace, bragged, &#8220;Everybody should know that all American bases and their aircraft carriers in a distance of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) around Iran are within the range of our missiles,&#8221; adding &#8220;Iran has always been ready for a &#8216;full-fledged&#8217; war,&#8221; as quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency and reported by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-usa-missiles/iran-says-u-s-bases-and-aircraft-carriers-within-range-of-its-missiles-tasnim-idUSKBN1W004A">Reuters</a>.
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7468121/Gas-prices-set-soar-22-cents-gallon-Saudi-oil-fields-burn-following-huge-drone-strike.html">The Daily Mail</a> noted, &#8220;Analysts fear the attacks – which heightened tensions in the region after the US blamed Iran – could push the price of crude oil up by $10 a barrel, which would translate to 22 cents per gallon at the pumps.&#8221; <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/iranian-general-says-country-ready-for-full-fledged-war-with-us/">The Times of Israel</a> quoted Andrew Lipow, president of the U.S. consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates, saying, &#8220;This is a big deal. Fearing the worst, I expect that the market will open $5 to $10 per barrel up.&#8221;
After the attacks, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted on Saturday, &#8220;Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while Rouhani and Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy. Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply. There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.&#8221; The Times of Israel noted, &#8220;The attacks followed weeks of similar drone assaults on the kingdom’s oil infrastructure, but none of the earlier strikes appeared to have caused the same amount of damage.&#8221;
In mid-August, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-iran/iran-says-top-waterways-wont-be-as-safe-if-its-oil-exports-cut-to-zero-idUSKCN1VB1EM">Reuters</a> reported that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that if Iran’s oil exports were reduced to zero, international waterways would not be as safe as before, threatening, &#8220;World powers know that in the case that oil is completely sanctioned and Iran’s oil exports are brought down to zero, international waterways can’t have the same security as before.&#8221; Reuters noted that Rouhani’s remark &#8220;coincided with a remark by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that Tehran might act &#8216;unpredictably&#8217; in response to &#8216;unpredictable&#8217; U.S. policies under President Donald Trump.&#8221;
In July, according to the <a href="https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/07/10/2050933/iranian-commander-warns-us-against-any-wrongdoing-in-regional-waters">Tasnim news agency</a>, Hossein Nejat, a brigadier general in Iran&#8217;s Revolutionary Guards, stated, &#8220;American bases are within the range of our missiles &#8230; Our missiles will destroy their aircraft carriers if they make a mistake. Americans are very well aware of the consequences of a military confrontation with Iran.&#8221;
As <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/threat/islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-irgc">The Counter Extremism Project</a> has noted:
<blockquote>The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is tasked with preserving the Islamic Republic of Iran and the ideals of the 1979 revolution. The IRGC combines traditional military roles with a relentless focus on supposed domestic enemies. The IRGC is Iran’s primary instrument for exporting the ideology of the Islamic Revolution worldwide. It is rigidly loyal to Iran’s clerical elite. The IRGC is Iran’s main link to its terrorist proxies, which the regime uses to boost Iran’s global influence.</blockquote>

Iran missiles

Report: Top Iranian General Boasts: Our Missiles Can Destroy Your Military Sites. We&#8217;re Ready For ‘Full-Fledged’ War.

Donald Trump

Two months ago, Britain detained an oil tanker in Gibraltar that was suspected of violating European Union sanctions. The U.S. says the Panamanian-flagged ship, a super oil tanker with around $100 million worth of crude on board, was in fact owned by Iran and aiding the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp, which was officially designated a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-designation-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-foreign-terrorist-organization/">Foreign Terrorist Organization</a> by the U.S. in April. The ship has now been released and is bound for Greece, or at least that&#8217;s what Iran claims.
The ship was detained after America notified British authorities that the ship was flying under a proxy flag and was in reality owned by Iran and, according to the U.S., involved in &#8220;illicit shipments to Syria from Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),&#8221; as reported by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/17/world/us-warrant-seizure-iran-oil-tanker-gibraltar-intl/index.html">CNN</a>. The US government says that the oil, which was designated for delivery at the Syrian port of Baniyas, would be used to aid dictator Bashar al-Assad in his civil war. Such an action would be a direct violation of E.U. sanction.
At the behest of the American government, the local Royal Gibraltar Police detained the ship on July 4. Iran claimed this action was an act of modern-day piracy. In retaliation, they attempted a reprisal attack on a British ship in the Gulf, but the Royal Navy was able to intervene and force the Iranians to disengage. The Iranians would attempt a similar action against another British tanker, which would prove successful.
For the next two months, Iran pressured Gibraltar’s court system to release their oil tanker. Britain eventually relented, releasing it on August 15 after the Iranian government promised the oil would never make it to Syria.
Prior to the ship setting sail, the U.S. State Department issued a warrant for the detainment of the vessel based on the ship’s connection to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp.
The British court ignored the warrant because neither the United Kingdom nor the European Union classify the group as a terrorist organization.
The tanker left port on Aug. 18. Before setting sail, the ship changed its name and ran up an Iranian flag.
The ship claims to be heading to Greece. However, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-iran-tanker-greece/greece-says-has-had-no-request-from-iranian-oil-tanker-to-dock-idUSKCN1VA104">Reuters</a> recently reported that Greece has yet to receive any notice that the oil tanker plans on arriving there. This suggests that the ship still intends to carry out its original assignment.
If they do intend to dispose of their cargo in Syria, Greece would be the most logical place to claim to be unloading the oil, allowing them to avoid attracting suspicion until they are within a few miles of Syrian waters and before any navy could possibly respond. Once they are within Syria’s territorial waters, any intervention becomes highly unlikely.
Their intent will become apparent as their course develops. If the ship passes by the Ionian Sea, then Greece would likely be their destination, but if the oil tanker’s course circumvents Crete, then it is likely headed toward Syria.
Editor&#8217;s note: This article has been revised to clarify that the U.S. has accused the tanker of assisting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp, rather than being controlled by it.

TOPSHOT-GULF-SHIPPING-OIL-US-IRAN-JAPAN-NORWAY-DIPLOMACY

UK Releases Oil Tanker Accused Of Assisting Iranian Terrorist Group

Great Britain

The state of Israel, now waiting until Iran implants ballistic missiles close enough to target the Jewish state, struck two Iraqi bases that stored ballistic missiles and housed Iranian forces in mid-July, according to <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israel-expanding-attacks-against-Iranians-in-Syria-and-Iraq-report-597128">The Jerusalem Post</a>, which quoted London-based Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat.
An F-35i stealth fighter jet hit a base in the Saladin province north of Baghdad on July 19 according to Al Arabiya television news, which noted that Iranian-made ballistic missiles were transported to the base before the attack. Al Arabiya reported that Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah members were killed in the airstrike.
Asharq Al-Awsat reported that Israel launched a second attack on Sunday on a base in Ashraf, northeast of Baghdad, where ballistic missiles had just arrived from Iran.
The Jerusalem Post added, “Last week, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/What-is-going-on-in-the-Golan-analysis-596808">an explosion</a> killed Hezbollah operative Mashour Zidan in southern Syria, and a few days later, a rocket struck the strategic Tel Haraa site not far from where Zidan was killed. Zidan … is said to have been a senior Hezbollah operative responsible for recruiting volunteers from villages near the border with Israel.”
<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-iraq-missiles-exclusive/exclusive-iran-moves-missiles-to-iraq-in-warning-to-enemies-idUSKCN1LG0WB">Reuters</a> reported at the end of August 2018:
<blockquote>Iran has given ballistic missiles to Shi’ite proxies in Iraq and is developing the capacity to build more there to deter attacks on its interests in the Middle East and to give it the means to hit regional foes, Iranian, Iraqi and Western sources said …
The Zelzal, Fateh-110 and Zolfaqar missiles in question have ranges of about 200 km to 700 km, putting Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh or the Israeli city of Tel Aviv within striking distance if the weapons were deployed in southern or western Iraq. The Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has bases in both those areas</blockquote>
Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly last September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/what-iran-hides-israel-will-find-full-text-of-netanyahus-un-speech/">asserted</a>, “I also have a message today for the tyrants of Tehran: Israel knows what you’re doing, and Israel knows where you’re doing it. Israel will never let a regime that calls for our destruction to develop nuclear weapons. Not now, not in ten years, not ever. And Israel will do whatever it must do to defend itself against Iran’s aggression. We will continue to act against you in Syria. We will act against you in Lebanon. We will act against you in Iraq. We will act against you whenever and wherever we must act to defend our state and defend our people.”
He added, “In Syria, Iran is trying to establish permanent military bases against us and has already launched missiles and drones into our territory. In Gaza, Iran is arming terror groups to launch rocket attacks into our cities and terror attacks against our civilians. In Lebanon, Iran is directing Hezbollah to build secret sites to convert inaccurate projectiles into precision guided missiles, missiles that can target deep inside Israel within an accuracy of ten meters.”

Israel Attacked Iraqi Bases Holding Ballistic Missiles From Iran in Mid-July, Report Says

On Wednesday, ratcheting up tension between the United States and Iran, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/world/conflicts/iran">Iran</a> successfully test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile that flew 600 miles.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-test-fires-medium-range-ballistic-missile-us-official">Fox News</a>, “They continue to engage in malign activity; they continue to build out their missile program; they continue to work on their nuclear systems, and yet they want to tell the world that no, they’re just defensive and they’re just being a normal nation and we all see differently.”
A senior administration official commented, “We are aware of reports of a projectile launched from Iran, and have no further comment at this time.”
The Shahab-3 missile flew from southern Iran to a desert near Iran’s capital, Tehran; the nuclear deal which President Trump walked away from did not deal with Iran’s conventional missile program.
Tensions between Iran and the West have been rising steadily for weeks; in mid-June, two tankers, the Kokuka Courageous and the Norwegian-owned Front Altair, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48587/us-navy-finds-fingerprints-suspects-iran-attacking-hank-berrien">were attacked</a> in the Gulf of Oman, and according to Commander Sean Kido, mines used in the attack bore “a striking resemblance” to those used by Iran. He said, “The limpet mine that was used in the attack is distinguishable and also strikingly bearing a resemblance to Iranian mines that have already been publicly displayed in Iranian military parades.” The U.S. Navy displayed pieces of debris and a magnet which they believed came from Iran&#8217;s Revolutionary Guard.
A few days later, an American drone was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48654/after-iran-shoots-down-huge-american-drone-trump-hank-berrien">shot down</a>, and the U.S. government said the drone was flying in international waters over the Strait of Hormuz. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/06/20/iran-shoots-down-us-drone-heightening-tensions/1508395001/">USA Today</a> reported that Navy Capt. Bill Urban, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, stated, “U.S. Central Command can confirm that a U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance ISR aircraft was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile system while operating in international airspace. Iranian reports that the aircraft was over Iran are false.”
A scant few days later, former Iranian Minister of Defense General Hossein Dehghan, currently an advisor for defense affairs to Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48777/iranian-official-iran-will-put-america-garbage-bin-ryan-saavedra">stated</a> that Iran would put America in “the garbage bin of history” if attacked and would eliminate Israel from &#8220;the face of the earth.&#8221;
In late June, President Trump<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48790/breaking-trump-takes-new-action-against-iran-ryan-saavedra"> announced</a> a new executive adding more sanctions against Iran in response to Iran shooting down the U.S. military drone. On July 9, Iran <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49347/iran-threatens-us-our-missiles-will-destroy-hank-berrien">threatened</a> the United States, warning that it would destroy American military bases and aircraft carriers “if they make a mistake.”
Last week the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Iran seized a<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-uk-tanker-video-commando-rappelling"> British-flagged oil tanker</a> and its 23 crew members in the Strait of Hormuz. CNN <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49690/breaking-iran-seizes-multiple-oil-tankers-near-ryan-saavedra">reported</a>, “Iran has also seized a second tanker, the Liberian-flagged MV Mesdar, according to a US official.” President Trump responded, “So, we’re going to be speaking with the U.K. And this only goes to show what I am saying about Iran. Trouble. Nothing but trouble. And remember this, the ridiculous agreement made by President Obama expires in a very short period of time, it was a short term agreement.”
On Wednesday, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, threatened to shoot down more American drones, asserting that American drones violating Iranian airspace “will receive the same response” as the American drone that was shot down in June.

U.S. Official: Iran Just Fired A Ballistic Missile

According to a Norwegian insurer&#8217;s report, the attacks on two Saudi ships, a UAE ship and a Norwegian ship last Sunday, were &#8220;highly likely&#8221; to have been orchestrated by Iran&#8217;s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), who report directly to the theocratic leaders who run Iran.
On April 8, President Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-designation-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-foreign-terrorist-organization/">released a statement</a> naming the IRGC as a terrorist organization, asserting:
<blockquote>
Today, I am formally announcing my Administration&#8217;s plan to designate Iran&#8217;s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including its Qods Force, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft. The IRGC is the Iranian government&#8217;s primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign.
</blockquote>
According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-oil-tankers-exclusive/exclusive-insurer-says-irans-guards-likely-to-have-organized-tanker-attacks-idUSKCN1SN1P7">Reuters</a>, &#8220;A confidential assessment issued this week by the Norwegian Shipowners&#8217; Mutual War Risks Insurance Association (DNK) concluded that the attack was likely to have been carried out by a surface vessel operating close by that despatched underwater drones carrying 30-50 kg (65-110 lb) of high-grade explosives to detonate on impact.&#8221;
DNK named the IRGC as the instigator based on the IRGC recently threatening military force and likely to use &#8220;asymmetric measures with plausible deniability&#8221;; the IRGC buttressing the Houthis in Yemen with surface drone boats carrying explosives that could use GPS navigational positions for accuracy, and shrapnel found on the Norwegian tanker similar to shrapnel from drone boats used by the Houthis.
Reuters added, &#8220;According to DNK, it was highly likely that the attacks had been intended to send a message to the United States and its allies that Iran did not need to block the Strait to disrupt freedom of navigation in the region.&#8221;
In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Norway said the attacks were purposeful, adding, &#8220;The attacks damaged the hulls of at least three of the vessels, threatened the safety and lives of those on board, and could have led to an environmental disaster.&#8221;
The DNK report said the vessels were damaged between six and 10 nautical miles off Fujairah, near the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has threatened to block.
In late April, <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/strait-of-hormuz-oil-choke-point-in-focus-as-us-ends-iran-oil-waivers-2019-04-23">MarketWatch</a> explained the significance of the Straits of Hormuz:
<blockquote>
At its narrowest point, the waterway is only 21 miles wide, and the width of the shipping lane in either direction is just 2 miles, separated by a two-mile buffer zone. Oil tankers carrying crude from ports on the Persian Gulf must pass through the strait. Around 18.5 million barrels a day of crude and refined products moved through it in 2016, nearly a third of all seaborne-traded oil and almost 20% of all oil produced globally, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That makes the Strait of Hormuz the world&#8217;s most sensitive oil transportation choke point.
Although the U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, would make if hard for Iran to close the Straits, Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, noted, &#8220;they could once again engage in provocative military maneuvers&#8212;such as having their speedboats harass U.S. vessels.&#8221; Rockford Weitz, professor of practice and director of the Fletcher maritime studies program at Tufts University, warned Marketwatch that Iran could mine the waterway or otherwise threaten traffic through the strait.
</blockquote>

Terrorist Group Supervised By Iran Government Orchestrated Attack On Ships, Report Says

Terrorism

On Monday, after President Trump designated Iran&#8217;s Revolutionary Guard Corps a &#8220;foreign terrorist organization,&#8221; the theocratic regime on Iran, Iran&#8217;s Supreme National Security Council, retaliated by naming U.S. Central Command a terrorist group, according to Iran&#8217;s <a href="http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13980119001247">Fars News Agency</a>.
<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/defense/437896-iran-labels-us-forces-in-middle-east-terrorist-group-after-trump-blacklists">The Hill</a> reported, &#8220;The council, headed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, added that Trump&#8217;s move poses a &#8216;major threat to regional and international peace and security and grossly violates the rules of international law.'&#8221; That move was <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/defense/437896-iran-labels-us-forces-in-middle-east-terrorist-group-after-trump-blacklists">apparently prompted</a> by a request to do so in a letter from Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Rouhani.
Trump had stated, &#8220;This action will significantly expand the scope and scale of our maximum pressure on the Iranian regime. If you are doing business with the IRGC, you will be bankrolling terrorism.&#8221; <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-designates-irans-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-a-foreign-terrorist-organization-11554733155">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported, &#8220;The designation also allows the U.S. to subject IRGC officials and those who provide support to the organization to travel restrictions and lets U.S. prosecutors bring charges against those who provide &#8216;material support&#8217; to the IRGC.&#8221;
Prior to the announcement from the Trump administration, IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafa huffed, &#8220;If the Americans do such stupidity and put our national security at risk, the U.S. Army and security forces in the West Asia region will not enjoy today&#8217;s peace.&#8221; The Journal noted that on Sunday, 255 out of 290 Iranian parliamentarians threatened, &#8220;We will answer any action taken against this force with a reciprocal action. So the leaders of America, who themselves are the creators and supporters of terrorists in the region, will regret this inappropriate and idiotic action.&#8221;
The history of the IRGC is replete with connections to terrorism; Nathan Sales, the State Department&#8217;s coordinator for counterterrorism, warned that engaging with the IRGC could trigger a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
The State Department has <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080312042926/http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/oct/94193.htm">written</a> of the Quds Force, which is part of the IRGC:
<blockquote>
The Qods Force, a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; aka Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps), provides material support to the Taliban, Lebanese Hizballah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).
The Qods Force is the Iranian regime&#8217;s primary instrument for providing lethal support to the Taliban. The Qods Force provides weapons and financial support to the Taliban to support anti-U.S. and anti-Coalition activity in Afghanistan. Since at least 2006, Iran has arranged frequent shipments of small arms and associated ammunition, rocket propelled grenades, mortar rounds, 107mm rockets, plastic explosives, and probably man-portable defense systems to the Taliban. This support contravenes Chapter VII UN Security Council obligations. UN Security Council resolution 1267 established sanctions against the Taliban and UN Security Council resolutions 1333 and 1735 imposed arms embargoes against the Taliban. Through Qods Force material support to the Taliban, we believe Iran is seeking to inflict casualties on U.S. and NATO forces.
The Qods Force has had a long history of supporting Hizballah&#8217;s military, paramilitary, and terrorist activities, providing it with guidance, funding, weapons, intelligence, and logistical support. The Qods Force operates training camps for Hizballah in Lebanon&#8217;s Bekaa Valley and has reportedly trained more than 3,000 Hizballah fighters at IRGC training facilities in Iran. The Qods Force provides roughly $100 to $200 million in funding a year to Hizballah and has assisted Hizballah in rearming in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
In addition, the Qods Force provides lethal support in the form of weapons, training, funding, and guidance to select groups of Iraqi Shi&#8217;a militants who target and kill Coalition and Iraqi forces and innocent Iraqi civilians.
</blockquote>
In August 2017, Brig. Gen. Ismail Ghaani, the deputy commander of the Quds Force, <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/2/ismail-ghaani-iranian-general-boasts-of-quds-force/">bragged</a> that his operatives had killed more Americans than U.S. troops had killed Iranian fighters.

Trounced By Trump, Iran Labels U.S. Forces As Terrorist Group

As early as Monday, the Trump administration will announce its decision to designate Iran&#8217;s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-to-designate-iranian-guard-corps-a-foreign-terrorist-organization-11554499401">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported Friday night.
The move will reportedly be the first time the U.S. has ever designated a branch of a foreign country&#8217;s military as a terrorist group. 
According to the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/expert-brief/how-powerful-irans-revolutionary-guard-corps">Council on Foreign Relations</a>, the IRGC was founded toward the end of Iran&#8217;s 1979 revolution due to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini&#8217;s distrust of the Iranian military. Today, the organization numbers 125,000, is in charge of the country&#8217;s ballistic missiles and nuclear programs, and has significant economic power.&#8203;
The WSJ also reported that U.S. officials claim &#8220;national security advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been strong proponents of the move, which is intended to help the U.S. crackdown on businesses in Europe and elsewhere controlled by the IRGC.&#8221;
While speaking at a conference in 2017, prior to joining the Trump administration, Bolton <a href="https://www.niacouncil.org/bolton-designate-irgc-terrorist-organization-kill-nuclear-deal/">said</a> that designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization &#8220;should have happened ten years ago.&#8221;&#8203;
Various officials in the government, including the military and the Central Intelligence Agency, reportedly have reservations about the move. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran/us-to-designate-elite-iranian-force-as-terrorist-organization-idUSKCN1RH2I4">Reuters</a> reports that some critics believe the move could create a precedent which could prompt governments hostile to the United States to take similar action against U.S. military and intelligence.
Jason Blazakis, the former director of the State Department&#8217;s Counterterrorism Finance and Designation Office, told the WSJ that the move would have profound ramifications. 
&#8220;The designation of IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization is precedent setting. Never before has the FTO sanctions tool been directed at a state-body. The future ramifications of this decision will be profound,&#8221; Blazakis said. 
In response to the policy change, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-lawmaker/iran-to-blacklist-us-military-if-washington-designates-guards-as-terrorists-mp-idUSKCN1RI04X">Reuters</a> reported that the head of the Iranian parliament&#8217;s national security committee tweeted that Iran would add the U.S. military to their own terror blacklist.&#8203;
&#8220;If the Revolutionary Guards are placed on America&#8217;s list of terrorist groups, we will put that country&#8217;s military on the terror blacklist next to Daesh [Islamic State],&#8221; Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh tweeted.
The policy change has been rumored for years and in 2017, IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari reportedly said if it was implemented, &#8220;then the Revolutionary Guards will consider the American army to be like Islamic State all around the world.&#8221; 
The WSJ also reported: &#8220;The U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, is planning to issue a regional alert to U.S. troops in the coming days, a precaution in case the move spurs Iran or the Shiite militias it supports within the region to retaliate, a defense official said.&#8221;
The new designation of the IRGC would allow the U.S. to act against companies and individuals who do business with the IRGC.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) said he supports the move in a statement. 
&#8220;A formal designation and its consequences may be new, but these IRGC butchers have been terrorists for a long time,&#8221; Sasse said.
In October, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain labeled the IRGC as an organization suspected of involvement in terrorism, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-bahrain-security-iran/saudi-bahrain-add-irans-revolutionary-guards-to-terrorism-lists-idUSKCN1MX288">Reuters</a> reported.&#8203;
In February, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43899/iran-claims-it-penetrated-us-army-command-center-hank-berrien">reported</a> that the IRGC claimed it successfully took control of seven to eight U.S. drones flying over Syria and Iraq and monitored the intel the drones were collecting and broadcasting back to U.S. forces.&#8203;
The Fars News Agency claims it received video proof of the IRGC&#8217;s claim. &#8220;The footage shows a U.S. flying drone starts malfunctioning and makes a rough landing in a desert area 10 kilometers away from its base,&#8221; Fars stated.&#8221;The footage that displays the IRGC&#8217;s penetration into the U.S. spy drone&#8217;s intel has been recorded by an IRGC drone flying above the scene.&#8221;
IRGC is also the group responsible for capturing and interrogating ten U.S. sailors after two of their boats entered Iranian waters in 2016.
Last month, the Trump administration hit the Iranian regime with a new round of sanctions on 31 people involved in Iran&#8217;s nuclear and missile research programs, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45013/trump-administration-hits-iran-new-round-sanctions-josh-hammer">reported</a>.&#8203;

REPORT: Trump Administration To Designate Iranian Guard Corps As Terrorist Group

Today marks the fortieth anniversary of Iran&#8217;s disastrous Islamic Revolution &#8212; in which the last Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, was overthrown in favor of a totalitarian, anti-Western, zealous, theocratic Islamist terrorist regime.
The Shah&#8217;s ouster marked the end of over 2,500 continuous years of monarchy in Persia. And the West has paid a steep price for the Shah&#8217;s ouster. From the Beirut barracks bombing of 1983 to the Argentinian AMIA bombing of 1994 to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/iran-responsible-for-1998-us-embassy-bombings/2011/12/08/gIQAuEAAfO_story.html">1998 U.S. embassy bombings</a> in Africa to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/iran-ordered-pay-billions-relatives-911-victims/story?id=54862664">funding and supporting the 9/11 hijackers</a> to the arming of countless Iraqis with I.E.D.s used to kill Americans during the Iraq War to the arming of Hezbollah, Hamas, and Bashar al-Assad alike to plotting to blow up the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. in a tony D.C. restaurant to the repeated warnings to annihilate from the face of the Earth the mullahs&#8217; dystopian characterization of the &#8220;little Satan&#8221; of Israel and the &#8220;great Satan&#8221; of America, we have been in a perpetual state of cold war with the thuggish mullocracy since the 1979 Revolution.
National Security Adviser John Bolton, a longtime Iran hawk, put it this way:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
After 40 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has failed to fulfill its promises to uphold and safeguard the rights of its citizens. The 40th anniversary of the Iranian regime only serves to highlight four decades of failure and broken promises.
&#8212; John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmbJohnBolton/status/1094969564549529606?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. was even blunter:
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OTD?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OTD</a> in 1979, the Ayatollahs took control of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Iran</a>, created a theocratic dictatorship, and began imprisoning innocents and funding terror. The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IslamicRevolution?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IslamicRevolution</a>&#8216;s 40th isn&#8217;t a celebration, it is a day of mourning for all the lives ruined by Iran&#8217;s tyrants <a href="https://t.co/hDasn7XOoT">https://t.co/hDasn7XOoT</a>
&#8212; Embassy of Israel (@IsraelinUSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/IsraelinUSA/status/1095028833147932672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The Iranian regime is, without any serious question, the world&#8217;s <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/iran-still-top-state-sponsor-terrorism-u-s-report-says">number one state sponsor</a> and exporter of terrorism the world over. It is a deeply wicked, institutionally evil government that <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran-News/Iran-executes-gay-teenager-in-violation-of-international-law-463234">represses</a>, starves, and <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/iransource/why-iran-s-water-problems-aren-t-going-away-anytime-soon">dehydrates</a> its citizenry at home, foments mass unrest overseas via everything from training proxy Shiite supremacist militias (Hezbollah) to bankrolling genocidal Sunni jihadist groups (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) to orchestrating sundry <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/31/europe/denmark-iran-asmla-assassination-arrest-intl/index.html">targeted assassination plots</a>.
And yet, by all accounts, the Iranian citizenry is not nearly as grotesquely anti-Western, anti-American, and anti-Semitic as are the citizenries of its regional neighbors. In the Anti-Defamation League&#8217;s 2014 global survey of anti-Semitic attitudes, Iran&#8217;s citizenry was &#8220;only&#8221; <a href="http://global100.adl.org/#country/iran/2014">56%</a> anti-Semitic &#8212; 18% lower than the region-wide <a href="http://global100.adl.org/#map/meast">average</a> for all of the Middle East and North Africa. In fact, the Iranian populace is less anti-Semitic than the populaces for numerous other Middle Eastern countries whose governments have cold and diplomatically unofficial &#8212; though, clandestinely, rapidly warming &#8212; relations, such as Saudi Arabia (74%), the United Arab Emirates (80%), and Oman (76%).
The Iranian people need all the support the West can provide them. While President Barack Obama ignored the 2009 &#8220;Green Movement&#8221; uprising in Iran in his <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Michael-Oren-Obama-rejected-Iran-Green-Revolution-for-nuclear-deal-522585">myopic pursuit</a> of the Neville Chamberlain-esque capitulation to the forces of fundamentalist jihadist evil known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (i.e., the Iran nuclear deal), President Donald Trump consistently provided Iranians with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/30/politics/donald-trump-iran-protests/index.html">moral</a> and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-updates-everything-president-1514606272-htmlstory.html">rhetorical</a> sustenance during their December 2017/January 2018 clashes with their tyrannical Islamist overlords.
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Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/947453152806297600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
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And yet, more is clearly needed.
It was not enough for Trump to extricate the United States from the <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/886387017143250944">pure, unvarnished evil</a> that was the Iran nuclear evil. It is not enough for Trump to do all that he has done to empower Israel and our Gulf state allies &#8212; such as Saudi Arabia, the United Aram Emirates, Bahrain, and Oman &#8212; against the Iran/Turkey/Qatar/Muslim Brotherhood axis of joint Shiite/Sunni Islamism that represents the true systemic security threat throughout the entire Middle East.
It will never be enough until the Islamic Revolutionary regime in Tehran is finally eradicated and forever consigned to the proverbial ash heap of history. Conservatives, post-Iraq War ought to generally be wary of quixotic nation-building crusades and hubristically seeking to project Madisonian democracies onto sharia-sympathetic Islamic nations. But if there were ever a just and prudent example of a morally and strategically worthwhile regime-toppling exercise, from an American national security perspective, it is with respect to the Iranian mullocracy.
Eli Lake recently <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-09/after-40-years-iran-needs-a-democratic-revolution">wrote</a> at Bloomberg:
<blockquote>
Too many Western leaders continue to trust [Ayatollah] Khomeini&#8217;s successors. Even now, the European Union and former Secretary of State John Kerry are working to save the 2015 deal limiting Iran&#8217;s nuclear program. They believe the Iranian regime&#8217;s promise not to build a weapon when much of the agreement expires in less than 15 years. 
The good news is that millions of Iranians no longer believe anything this regime says. They have endured the terror, deprivation and cruelty unleashed by the Islamic Revolution 40 years ago. The least Americans and Europeans can do is defend and support them and their struggle for a democratic revolution.
</blockquote>
The Trump Administration ought to double down in its efforts at thwarting the regime at every possible turn. It goes without saying that we ought to continue smaller measures such as blasting Voice of America throughout the airwaves in Iran, and in generally trying to effectuate direct channels straight to the Iranian people to assist them in overcoming their regime&#8217;s repressive infringements on their basic human dignity.
But the Trump Administration also ought to make clear that, in the next prospective, well-organized country-wide uprising akin to the 2009 &#8220;Green Movement&#8221; uprising that Obama so unfathomably overlooked, the United States will work with our allies to provide direct arms and sustenance to the Iranian people. That is the only eventual outcome for the Iranian people that will ever be truly acceptable. And it is the only eventual outcome for America and her geopolitical allies that will ever be truly acceptable. 
The Islamic Revolution in Iran may have hit the tender age of 40. God willing, it will not make it another 40 years. We must always stand with the Iranian people against their thuggish, Islamofascist regime overlords.

HAMMER: The Iranian Revolution Is Forty Years Old. Stand With The Iranian People Against Their Tyrannical Regime.

Today marks the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-revolution-anniversary-javani/iran-warns-it-would-raze-tel-aviv-to-the-ground-if-attacked-by-us-irna-idUSKCN1Q01E5">fortieth anniversary</a> of the Islamic Revolution in Iran &#8212; the year-plus struggle, ending in February 1979, that resulted in the ouster of the Shah and the ascendance of a zealous Islamist theocracy that has ever since been in a perpetual state of cold war with the broader West.
Today, as part of the jihad-exporting regime&#8217;s celebration of the Islamic Revolution, the infamously anti-Semitic and anti-Israel government decided to once again casually threaten to attack the Jewish state. As The Times of Israel <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/iranian-commander-threatens-to-raze-tel-aviv-and-haifa-if-us-attacks/">reports</a>:
<blockquote>
A senior commander in Iran&#8217;s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps threatened on Monday to destroy two of Israeli&#8217;s largest cities if the country is attacked by the United States.
&#8220;The United States does not have the courage to shoot a single bullet at us despite all its defensive and military assets. But if they attack us, we will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground,&#8221; Brig. Gen. Yadollah Javani was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
</blockquote>
In Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is the branch of the military responsible for upholding the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The entire IRGC has been labeled a terrorist organization by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and some of the IRGC&#8217;s sub-components &#8212; including its elite Quds Force, which has been labeled a terrorist organization by the United States &#8212; engage in even more direct sponsoring and exporting of sharia supremacist Islamism. As The Times of Israel notes, &#8220;[t]op political and military leaders in Iran regularly call for Israel&#8217;s annihilation,&#8221; so Javani&#8217;s paean to his regime&#8217;s genocidal ambitions is not at all unprecedented.
The celebrations in Tehran on Monday did not lack in annihilationist calls against other Western powers, as The Times of Israel <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/iranian-commander-threatens-to-raze-tel-aviv-and-haifa-if-us-attacks/">makes clear</a>:
<blockquote>
Along with the chants &#8220;Death to America&#8221; and banners bearing slogans calling for &#8220;Death to Israel,&#8221; Monday&#8217;s marches were also a backdrop to the military&#8217;s display of Iranian-made missiles, which authorities showcase every year during anniversary celebrations.
In Tehran, crowds streamed in the rain from a dozen of the capital&#8217;s far-flung neighborhoods to mass in central Tehran Azadi, or Freedom Square, on Monday, waving Iranian flags and chanting &#8220;Death to America&#8221; &#8212; a chant that has been standard fare at anti-U.S. rallies across Iran.
Chants of &#8220;Death to Israel&#8221; and &#8220;Death to Britain&#8221; followed, and demonstrators burned U.S. and Israeli flags. Iranian state TV, which said millions participated in the celebrations, ran archive footage of the days of the uprising and played revolutionary songs. It later broadcast footage showing crowds across this country of 80 million.
</blockquote>
The Jerusalem Post <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Iran-Well-raze-Tel-Aviv-and-Haifa-to-the-ground-if-US-attacks-580325?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=twitter">reports</a> that Monday&#8217;s demonstrations featured hundreds of thousands of Iranian citizens &#8212; &#8220;[s]oldiers, students, clerics and black-clad women holding small children&#8221; alike &#8212; and that some burned U.S. flags.
Last week, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-revolution-anniversary-khamenei/death-to-america-aimed-at-trump-not-american-nation-iran-leader-says-idUSKCN1PX0T8">claimed</a> that Iran&#8217;s infamous &#8220;Death to America&#8221; chanting is intended not at the United States as a whole, but merely at President Trump. The problem, for Khamenei, is that there is a public record of such virulent, hateful chanting going as far back as the 1979 Islamic Revolution. 
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Glad we clarified that after hearing this slogan for 40 straight years and 7 different presidents. <a href="https://t.co/9UEm7XUg6z">https://t.co/9UEm7XUg6z</a>
&#8212; Jonathan Schanzer (@JSchanzer) <a href="https://twitter.com/JSchanzer/status/1093866663446003713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Iran Unhinged: Regime Threatens To ‘Raze Tel Aviv And Haifa To The Ground’ If U.S. Attacks

Protesters have taken to the streets in Tehran, Iran&#8217;s Grand Bazaar, shutting down shops in a massive rally designed to bring attention to the country&#8217;s failing economy.
Unlike previous protests which took place mostly among the economically under-privileged outside of Tehran, Monday&#8217;s protests occurred right at the city center and involved many of the city&#8217;s merchants who are decidedly middle-class Iranians fed up with the Mullahs.
Security forces <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/report-protesters-swarm-irans-grand-bazaar-in-tehran/2018/06/25/9aa16f4a-785c-11e8-ac4e-421ef7165923_story.html?utm_term=.6ce9c73c34a5">attempted to control the mob with tear gas</a> and Iranian officials denied the protests, but enterprising Iranians were able to upload videos of marchers crowding the Grand Bazaar and even demonstrating on the steps of parliament.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: Protesters have swarmed Tehran&#8217;s Grand Bazaar amid nationwide anger over the country&#8217;s troubled economy &#8211; semi-official news agency in Iran <a href="https://t.co/Mv1IIPVYv5">pic.twitter.com/Mv1IIPVYv5</a>
&#8212; Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmichaiStein1/status/1011207108136767488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
The protests appear to be largely organic, spurred on by the Iranian currency&#8217;s sudden, steep drop in value against the dollar, even though, The Washington Post reports, the government has tried to &#8220;control the currency rate.&#8221; The drop leaves Iranians destitute and faced with clear-cut evidence that their country is close to economic ruin.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IranProtests?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IranProtests</a> in Tehran today over the currency plunge against the US dollar. In this scene ppl are chanting that the Charsou Bazaar must be shut down. There&#8217;s huge public anger over regime&#8217;s economic mismanagement. June 30 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeIran2018?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FreeIran2018</a> convention in Paris to support Iran&#8217;s ppl. <a href="https://t.co/HjKqqpNOP2">pic.twitter.com/HjKqqpNOP2</a>
&#8212; M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) <a href="https://twitter.com/HanifJazayeri/status/1010903813094559744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
People are chanting &#8220;Close your stalls&#8221; as <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IranProtests?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IranProtests</a> are underway today at the bazaar in Tehran over regime&#8217;s economic policies that have all but destroyed the national currency. On June 30 the diaspora will hold <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeIran2018?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FreeIran2018</a> convention in Paris in solidarity with Iran&#8217;s ppl <a href="https://t.co/00KNUdzWuu">pic.twitter.com/00KNUdzWuu</a>
&#8212; M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) <a href="https://twitter.com/HanifJazayeri/status/1010909583534116864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
&#8220;Iranians are fed up with the regime and its both factions,&#8221; Saeed Ghasseminejad, an Iran research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies <a href="http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iranian-protestors-swarm-streets-chanting-death-palestine/">told The Washington Free Beacon</a>. &#8220;Over the last year, dollar appreciated 140 percent against rial. The regime is selling oil to fund terrorist groups and its military adventures in the region while Iranians become poorer and poorer every day.&#8221;
But although most major Iranian media outlets are focused on the economic angle to the protests, there appears to be a political angle, fostered by the Iranian regime&#8217;s focus on foreign wars over care for its own domestic economy. Alongside shouts to close stalls, &#8220;strike,&#8221; and cease trade in solidarity against the government, are calls to dethrone Iran&#8217;s Mullahs, calls for Iran to leave Syria, and even mind-boggling calls to cut ties to Palestinian terror groups.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Ppl are on the streets of Tehran today chanting &#8220;Leave Syria alone. Think of us instead&#8221;. Iran&#8217;s ppl want end to regime&#8217;s corrupt policies. On June 30 the diaspora plan a major <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeIran2018?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FreeIran2018</a> convention in Paris in solidarity with the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IranProtests?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IranProtests</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VP</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SecPompeo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecPompeo</a> <a href="https://t.co/4sgoU1Zrzu">pic.twitter.com/4sgoU1Zrzu</a>
&#8212; M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) <a href="https://twitter.com/HanifJazayeri/status/1010914062849511425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: Protesters chanting &#8220;Death to the Dictator&#8221; in Iran capital. Today&#8217;s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IranProtests?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IranProtests</a> in Tehran&#8217;s Bazaar has spilled onto the streets. Ppl are angry over regime&#8217;s economic policies. The diaspora&#8217;s June 30 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeIran2018?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FreeIran2018</a> convention in Paris will echo the call for democracy. <a href="https://t.co/ScKHojfyuW">pic.twitter.com/ScKHojfyuW</a>
&#8212; M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) <a href="https://twitter.com/HanifJazayeri/status/1011190571384426496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
MUST-WATCH: Crowds in Iran are chanting &#8220;Death to Palestine!&#8221; Not to Israel. Not to America. But to Palestine.
Hamas and Hezbollah and Palestinian Jihad can kiss their Iranian funding goodbye if the regime falls. <a href="https://t.co/XM5CFAvjEH">https://t.co/XM5CFAvjEH</a>
&#8212; Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) <a href="https://twitter.com/SohrabAhmari/status/1011252617492787200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
The protests are said to be the largest in the country&#8217;s capital since the &#8220;Green Revolution&#8221; in 2009, and are &#8220;gaining steam.&#8221; Some experts indicate that it could be a &#8220;survival crisis&#8221; for Iran&#8217;s regime, though still in its infancy.

Protesters &#8216;SWARM&#8217; Tehran&#8217;s Grand Bazaar, Shout &#8216;Death To Palestine,&#8217; &#8216;Death To Dictator&#8217;

Palestinians

Syria

On Tuesday, in a stunning scene in the Canadian Parliament, the Liberal party, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, suddenly reversed it position and voted with the Conservative party to eschew restoring diplomatic relations with Iran.
What made the move so stunning was that Trudeau had campaigned on restoring diplomatic relations with Iran. But let Anthony Furey of The Toronto Sun <a href="http://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/furey-trudeau-just-made-a-major-pivot-towards-toughness-with-his-iran-policy">tell the tale</a>:
<blockquote>
Conservative Senators had previously brought forward similar legislation and it was defeated last month by Justin Trudeau-appointed Senators. So everyone figured they knew how Tuesday&#8217;s vote would go down: Conservatives in favour, Liberals mostly against. Even Speaker Geoff Regan must have thought this. Because after he&#8217;d finished tallying the &#8220;yeas&#8221; from the Conservative side he then called to register the &#8220;nay&#8221; votes, as if he assumed the &#8220;yeas&#8221; were done. Then there were rumblings. Regan realized that maybe there were a few more &#8220;yeas&#8221; kicking around on other benches and reopened the count. There were. And the first one to stand up was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself. Then the whole Liberal cabinet, followed by much of the caucus, stood up to vote in favour of the motion put forward by Conservative MP Garnett Genuis.
</blockquote>
There are two significant parts to the motion that was passed: for the government to &#8220;abandon its current plan and immediately cease any and all negotiations or discussion with the Islamic Republic of Iran to restore diplomatic relations,&#8221; and to add the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which runs Iran&#8217;s economy, to Canada&#8217;s list of designated terrorist entities.
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Wow. The Liberal caucus, led by Trudeau, just voted en masse in support of a Conservative motion calling on the government to denounce the Iranian regime &amp; cease the restoration of diplomatic relations. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cdnpoli?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#cdnpoli</a>
&#8212; Anthony Furey (@anthonyfurey) <a href="https://twitter.com/anthonyfurey/status/1006616835486355458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Great News!!! 
Motion in Canada&#8217;s Parliament put forth by <a href="https://twitter.com/GarnettGenuis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GarnettGenuis</a> to suspend negotiation with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Iran</a> and list the IRGC as a terrorist entity has passed!! Supported by Conservatives and Liberals (except Jowhari and Ehsassi who were conveniently absent). 
Congrats!!!
&#8212; Kaveh Shahrooz kshahrooz) <a href="https://twitter.com/kshahrooz/status/1006618857191206912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/GarnettGenuis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GarnettGenuis</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/CPC_HQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CPC_HQ</a>. Because of your opposition motion today the Liberal government has admitted the error of its ways. <a href="https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JustinTrudeau</a> has admitted he was wrong to pursue diplomatic relations with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IRI?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IRI</a>, &amp; agreed to *immediately* list <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IRGC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IRGC</a> as terrorist entity.
&#8212; Senator Linda Frum (@LindaFrum) <a href="https://twitter.com/LindaFrum/status/1006628184773849088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Congratulations to <a href="https://twitter.com/GarnettGenuis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GarnettGenuis</a> and the <a href="https://twitter.com/CPC_HQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CPC_HQ</a> Caucus on the passage of our motion calling on the government to end the normalization of relations with Iran. 1/2
&#8212; Andrew Scheer (@AndrewScheer) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewScheer/status/1006637504475422721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/LindaFrum?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LindaFrum</a>. Iranians will never forget who stood up against the rulers of the brutal regime and who supported them. So many of my friends are grateful to you and <a href="https://twitter.com/GarnettGenuis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GarnettGenuis</a>. Congratulations! Terrorists and their hateful ways are not welcome in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IRGCTerrorists?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IRGCTerrorists</a>
&#8212; Salman Sima (@SalmanSima) <a href="https://twitter.com/SalmanSima/status/1006638960221843456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
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STUNNING: Trudeau Follows Trump&#8217;s Lead, Votes To Denounce Iran Regime

Canada

Justin Trudeau

After temporarily banning the use of Telegram, a secure communications app that allowed young, modern Iranians to coordinate protests across the country a few months ago, the Iranian government has responded to the calls of its people and instituted a new, (likely) government-monitored communications app that has all of the same features of Telegram except that, of course, it&#8217;s operated under the direct supervision of Iranian Mullahs.
<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-43891478">The BBC reports</a> that the Iranian government has introduced Soroush, claiming that the Ayatollah has even shut down his Telegram account (not exactly surprising) and opened an account on Soroush. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is offering users the chance to win five solid gold coins if they switch to Soroush from Telegram and send proof.
Iranians are, of course, skeptical of Soroush&#8217;s claims that it is identical to Telegram in every way, allowing that &#8220;users join groups, create channels, follow news, and send files, videos, pictures, and audio.&#8221; There is no promise, of course, that the government isn&#8217;t scanning all files, videos, pictures, and audio for evidence that users are plotting to overthrow the militant Islamic force that rules their lives.
There are a few additional features to Soroush, including a handful of exclusive emojis that users can employ to signal their thoughts on America and . . . um . . . freemasonry.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Iran&#8217;s launched a messaging app called Soroush to replace Telegram. Comes with &#8220;Death to America&#8221; and &#8220;Death to Freemasons&#8221; emojis. <a href="https://t.co/di8BfcTtv6">pic.twitter.com/di8BfcTtv6</a>
&#8212; Alistair Coleman (@alistaircoleman) <a href="https://twitter.com/alistaircoleman/status/988776067812020226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
They&#8217;re so hateful they&#8217;re almost adorable. There&#8217;s even a &#8220;Death to Israel&#8221; emoji, but Soroush isn&#8217;t using that one in its promotional material.
Some Iranians have even made fun of the app&#8217;s &#8220;WhatsApp&#8221; style check mark system, which awards three check marks instead of two (to indicate &#8220;sent&#8221; and &#8220;read&#8221;). The third check mark, they joke, means the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has scanned the message and determined it &#8220;safe.&#8221;
Telegram is facing a series of bans from controlling governments. In addition to Iran&#8217;s new &#8220;alternative,&#8221; Telegram is now banned in parts of Russia over concerns the app wasn&#8217;t complying with government rules that require messaging services to warn the Russian government of &#8220;subversive&#8221; messages being sent using the app. In Iran, the government allows people to use Telegram, but shuts down the app by edict when they feel talk of revolution is getting too strong.

Iran Introduces Its Own Messaging Service, Complete  With &#8216;Death To America&#8217; Emojis

Technology

1. How did the protests start?
Protests <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/25222/backlash-heres-whats-behind-protest-massive-ryan-saavedra">started on Thursday</a> in the city of Mashhad as demonstrators took to the street to protest rising prices, high unemployment rates, and corruption in Iran&#8217;s Islamic government. The protests, comprised of adults mostly under 40, are believed to have started on social media, which led to the Iranian government <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-blocks-internet-may-shut-down-telegram-app-as-protests-spread/">shutting down</a> the internet to stop the protests from escalating. By the weekend, the protests had spread across Iran, including to areas that are considered strongholds for the government.
2. What do the protestors want?
Demonstrators are demanding the removal of the current regime, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as evidenced by chants from the crowds which include calls for the death of the Islamic Republic, Hezbollah, and Khamenei.
3. What are the crowds chanting? 
The following quotes were pulled from Iranian protestors before Iran shut the internet down and translated by <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/economics-dissatisfaction-with-current-regime-fuel-iran-protests-1514679332">The Wall Street Journal</a>:
<blockquote>
&#8220;We don&#8217;t want an Islamic Republic, we don&#8217;t want it, we don&#8217;t want it.&#8221;
&#8220;They are using Islam as an excuse to drive people crazy.&#8221;
&#8220;Independence, Freedom, Iranian Republic.&#8221;
&#8220;Reformists, hard-liners, game is over.&#8221;
&#8220;We are all Iranians, we don&#8217;t accept Arabs.&#8221;
&#8220;We are getting poor and clerics are driving fancy cars.&#8221;
&#8220;Reza Shah, Rest in Peace.&#8221;
&#8220;We will die but we will take Iran back.&#8221;
&#8220;Come out to the streets Iranians, shout for your rights.&#8221;
&#8220;Death to the Revolutionary Guards.&#8221;
</blockquote>
4. How has the Iranian government responded?
Reports vary on the response from the government; some indicate that the protests are more peaceful than riots in previous years, while new reports indicate that approximately a dozen protestors have died, according to two separate reports from the Associated Press.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
BREAKING: Iranian state TV reports that 10 people have been killed amid nationwide protests, without elaborating.
&#8212; The Associated Press (@AP) <a href="https://twitter.com/AP/status/947769227162906624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" data-lang="en">
Report: 2 more protesters killed amid Iran demonstrations over government&#8217;s handling of economy. <a href="https://t.co/yFaStsigtg">https://t.co/yFaStsigtg</a>
&#8212; The Associated Press (@AP) <a href="https://twitter.com/AP/status/947763801889345536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
&#8220;I do not know whether yesterday&#8217;s shooting was done by rally participants or the police and this issue is being investigated,&#8221; said Hedayatollah Khademi, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-rallies/two-people-killed-in-iran-amid-calls-for-fresh-protests-idUSKBN1EP064">Reuters</a> reports.
The WSJ adds that some leaders have acknowledged the legitimate economic problems that face the country, which has an unemployment rate of more than 12%.
5. What is expected to happen next?
At this point it&#8217;s tough to know, considering the limited information coming out of Iran, however <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/protests-iran-171231083620343.html">Al Jazeera</a> notes that experts have indicated that the &#8220;demonstrations have escalated much faster than anticipated.&#8221;
&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t expected to be anything beyond the slogans against the administration and the president,&#8221; said Negar Mortazavi, a journalist for Iran International, which is a self-described independent online news service. &#8220;But, it seems like the dissent within the Iranian population is so much deeper; that this has gone beyond the presidency and all the way up to the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei], which is very worrisome for all factions of the establishment.&#8221;
The WSJ adds,&#8221;Uprisings in Iran tend to die out because of a lack of leadership, clear organization and goals. If the protests persist, the regime may crack down harder on them, with mass arrests and military lockdowns.&#8221;
6. How has the Trump administration responded?
President Donald Trump expressed his support for the protests over Twitter. Saying the world is watching, he condemned the country for shutting down the internet and also tweeted out videos from his speech at the U.N. over the summer in which he talked about the growing issues inside Iran.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Many reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up with regime&#8217;s corruption &amp; its squandering of the nation&#8217;s wealth to fund terrorism abroad. Iranian govt should respect their people&#8217;s rights, including right to express themselves. The world is watching! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IranProtests?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IranProtests</a>
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/946949708915924994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/947453152806297600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Iran, the Number One State of Sponsored Terror with numerous violations of Human Rights occurring on an hourly basis, has now closed down the Internet so that peaceful demonstrators cannot communicate. Not good!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/947588263103139841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The entire world understands that the good people of Iran want change, and, other than the vast military power of the United States, that Iran&#8217;s people are what their leaders fear the most&#8230;. <a href="https://t.co/W8rKN9B6RT">pic.twitter.com/W8rKN9B6RT</a>
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/947180713236934657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever, and the day will come when the Iranian people will face a choice. The world is watching! <a href="https://t.co/kvv1uAqcZ9">pic.twitter.com/kvv1uAqcZ9</a>
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/947181212468203520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said the following in a <a href="https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/12/276811.htm">statement</a>:
<blockquote>
We are following reports of multiple peaceful protests by Iranian citizens in cities across the country. Iran&#8217;s leaders have turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed, and chaos. As President Trump has said, the longest-suffering victims of Iran&#8217;s leaders are Iran&#8217;s own people.
The United States strongly condemns the arrest of peaceful protesters. We urge all nations to publicly support the Iranian people and their demands for basic rights and an end to corruption.
</blockquote>
<div class="embed tweet"></div>
7. How has the American media reacted?
The media initially ignored what was going on in Iran, likely because it reflected negatively on former President Barack Obama, whose Iran nuclear deal was supposed to help Iran&#8217;s economy, and because the Trump administration&#8217;s response was night-and-day <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/25226/goodbye-obama-trump-state-department-supports-iran-hank-berrien">better than Obama&#8217;s</a> response in 2009.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/25245/sad-cnn-nyt-having-tough-time-covering-iran-emily-zanotti">CNN and The New York Times did a terrible job</a> of covering the protests, while ABC News&#8217; Matthew Dowd declared that the U.S. did not have the moral authority to talk about Iran because &#8220;we&#8221; don&#8217;t talk about Russia:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/matthewjdowd?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@matthewjdowd</a>: &#8220;Our moral authority in the world has been drastically diminished,&#8221; reducing our ability to weigh in on protests in Iran. &#8220;How can we talk about what&#8217;s going on Iran when we don&#8217;t talk about what goes on in Russia?&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThisWeek?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ThisWeek</a> <a href="https://t.co/H24KxuNWGv">pic.twitter.com/H24KxuNWGv</a>
&#8212; ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/947481425275531264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Dowd was hit pretty hard for his remarks on Twitter as conservative media personalities weighed in:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
All we talk about is Russia but ok . <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/palletsofcash?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#palletsofcash</a> <a href="https://t.co/AInbUJjgQy">https://t.co/AInbUJjgQy</a>
&#8212; Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) <a href="https://twitter.com/DLoesch/status/947539825527226369?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Dowd is one of the dumbest commentators alive. He says things so wrapped in emotion and devoid of reason that I&#8217;m astonished any network would pay him for his thoughts. <a href="https://t.co/Iqqb6951Ga">https://t.co/Iqqb6951Ga</a>
&#8212; Dan Bongino (@dbongino) <a href="https://twitter.com/dbongino/status/947542004518604801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
Oh Dowd <a href="https://t.co/LiJ6tIDKZz">pic.twitter.com/LiJ6tIDKZz</a>
&#8212; Grace Vasquez (@itsYourGrace) <a href="https://twitter.com/itsYourGrace/status/947552255489773568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Matthew Dowd is such a no-talent sell-out.
Good grief. Of course he has a TV contract. Of course.
&#8212; Melissa Mackenzie (@MelissaTweets) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelissaTweets/status/947541962453864448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>

7 Things You Need To Know About The Iran Protests

Democratic Party

Media Bias

Protest

Trump Administration

On Saturday, Iran&#8217;s Foreign Minister, Javid Zarif, sent a chilling message on Twitter, urging all Iranians to view themselves as members of Iran&#8217;s murderous Revolutionary Guard.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Today, Iranians&#8211;boys, girls, men, women&#8211;are ALL IRGC; standing firm with those who defend us &amp; the region against aggression &amp; terror.
&#8212; Javad Zarif (@JZarif) <a href="https://twitter.com/JZarif/status/919213092197814272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired back on Twitter with a blistering attack on Zarif and a message to the beleaguered Iranians held captive by the theocratic regime in Iran; Netanyahu envisioned a brighter day when the Iranian people will be free. The text of Netanyahu&#8217;s message is below:
<blockquote>
I hope you&#8217;re sitting down, because this one&#8217;s a whopper. Iran&#8217;s Foreign Minister just tweeted that all Iranian boys and girls, all Iranian men and women, see themselves as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
I&#8217;d love to know what the Iranian people think of that tweet. Sadly, the Iranian regime bans them from using Twitter. Ironic, don&#8217;t you think? Apparently I have a higher opinion of the Iranian people than their leaders. See, I&#8217;m sure that ordinary Iranians aren&#8217;t proud when the Revolutionary Guard murders innocent men and women around the globe. I&#8217;m sure that ordinary Iranian mothers and fathers wouldn&#8217;t have blown up a Jewish community center in Argentina filled with little children. Because that&#8217;s what the Revolutionary Guard did. I&#8217;m sure that ordinary Iranians want to live in peace, and don&#8217;t want their governments to shoot students in the streets, hang gays from cranes, torture journalists in prison.
One day the Iranian people will be free; free to tweet; free to express how they felt when their dictators compared them to the Iranian version of ISIOS.
So I have a simple message for Iran&#8217;s Foreign Minister: Delete your account.
</blockquote>
In 2007, Argentina requested the arrest of six people in connection with the bombings, including then-defense minister of Iran, Ahmad Vahidi; former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani; and Mohsen Rezaie, who was <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/07/17/argentina.bombing.iran/index.html">head of Iran&#8217;s Revolutionary Guard at the time of the attack.</a>
Video of Netanyahu below:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
My message to Iran&#8217;s foreign minister: Delete your account <a href="https://t.co/i0Ca57uc4u">pic.twitter.com/i0Ca57uc4u</a>
&#8212; PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) <a href="https://twitter.com/IsraeliPM/status/919978612979388416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 16, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>

Netanyahu Fires Blistering Attack On Iran&#8217;s Foreign Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu

The Washington Post is taking moral relativism to new heights. The Post&#8217;s Beirut bureau chief Liz Sly and contributor Suzan Haidamous co-authored a fluff piece that essentially attempts to re-define the terrorist group Hezbollah as a legitimate political movement. 
Going on &#8220;tour&#8221; with the Lebanese Shia militia, Sly and her colleague took the word of Hezbollah leadership at face value in an apparent effort to normalize the morally depraved non-state actors.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
On tour with Hezbollah in Lebanon, where they&#8217;re out to show that they, not Trump, are the ones fighting terrorism <a href="https://t.co/dPoWDYYu5A">https://t.co/dPoWDYYu5A</a>
&#8212; Liz Sly (@LizSly) <a href="https://twitter.com/LizSly/status/891805053056692224">July 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
&#8220;The current American president is ignorant of the region,&#8221; Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif told the Post reporters. &#8220;We are the force that fights terrorism while the United States continues to support terrorism in many forms.&#8221;
Afif added:
<blockquote>
We are the ones defeating terrorism. The Americans and their allies are the ones who are supporting terrorism, and they are the last ones who should be criticizing Hezbollah.
</blockquote>
And there you go, it&#8217;s the Americans who are &#8220;supporting terrorism,&#8221; not the jihadist martyrs with an AK-47 on their <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=hezbollah&amp;tbm=isch&amp;source=lnms&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiM2ubrubTVAhVR5GMKHUdjCBYQ_AUIBygC&amp;biw=1190&amp;bih=568#tbm=isch&amp;q=hezbollah+flag">flag</a>. 
Failing to provide proper context to the terror group&#8217;s hostile behavior in the region, Sly and Haidamous mention Israel, Hezbollah&#8217;s primary victim, once. Adding insult to injury, the reporters actually have the gall to frame Israel as the oppressor and Hezbollah the victim of the &#8220;Israeli occupation.&#8221;
&#8220;Nowhere was there any evidence of the Lebanese state, which has struggled to assert its role in the years since the 1975-1990 civil war saw the country overrun by scores of private militias,&#8221; write Sly and Haidamous. &#8220;Only Hezbollah survived intact, retaining its status because of the role it played resisting what was then the Israeli occupation of a big chunk of southern Lebanon.&#8221;
Hezbollah&#8217;s spontaneous missile attacks against innocent Israelis along the Jewish State&#8217;s northern border with Lebanon are conveniently ignored.
Moreover, the sheer extent of Hezbollah&#8217;s war crimes in Syria are left out entirely. Financed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hezbollah has functioned as a de facto mercenary group to prop up the genocidal Assad regime in Syria. It&#8217;s Hezbollah fighters, paid for and trained by Iran, who are butchering civilians on behalf of Assad.
But to Sly and Haidamous, Hezbollah&#8217;s barbarity is far too complex for moral judgment of any kind.
Indeed, the two Post writers appear to take issue with President Trump&#8217;s recent characterization of the terror group as a terror group.
&#8220;Whether the Trump administration can navigate the pitfalls of this complexity may determine if this tiny, relatively calm country can continue to escape the turmoil raging elsewhere in the Middle East,&#8221; write the two reporters, channeling obscurantist post-modern academics with exactly zero military experience.

SICK: Washington Post Is Touring With Terrorist Group Hezbollah

Bashar Assad

Muslims

Radical Islamic Terror

On Saturday, thousands of people gathered at the Villepinte Exhibition Centre near Paris, France, to protest the theocratic regime of Iran. Hosted by the MEK (Mujahideen-e-Khalq)-linked NCRI, or National Council of Resistance of Iran, the event featured speakers from around the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia among others. 
Watch the event live:
<iframe allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="370" width="660"></iframe>
Read the NCRI&#8217;s press release detailing the event below:
<blockquote>
#FreeIran Rally, Onward with the Iranian Resistance, Change is within Reach.
Tens of thousands of Iranians and their supporters from five continents will coverage on Paris to call for regime change in Iran. The rally coincides with expanding activities of the Iranian Resistance inside Iran. The participants will be joined by a stellar group of bipartisan former senior officials, lawmakers and officials from the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, will be the keynote speaker. Newt Gingrich, Louis Free, Tom Ridge, Michael Mukasey and General George Casey are among the U.S. speakers.
</blockquote>

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Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps

Articles tagged with Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps