[Atlantis]

The US and its proxies unashamedly use state terrorism to assassinate and bomb at will. History will remember that the US is the greatest threat to peace and stability on the planet.

Why do Americans believe that their country is democratic if a clown posing as president can trigger a major international crisis without any oversight by democratic institutions?

Trump is trying to do as much damage as possible to his country and to the world before he has to leave the WH.

Iran vows retaliation after top nuclear scientist shot dead near Tehran

Iran has vowed retaliation after the architect of its nuclear programme was assassinated on a highway near Tehran, in a major escalation of tensions that risks placing the Middle East on a new war footing.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was ambushed with explosives and machine gun fire in the town of Absard, 70km (44 miles) east of Tehran. Efforts to resuscitate him in hospital failed. His bodyguard and family members were also wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said Israel was probably to blame, and an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed retaliation. “We will strike as thunder at the killers of this oppressed martyr and will make them regret their action,” tweeted Hossein Dehghan.

The killing was seen inside Iran as being as grave as the assassination by US forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qassem Soleimani in January.

Israel will face accusations that it is using the final weeks of the Trump administration to try to provoke Iran in the hope of closing off any chance of reconciliation between Tehran and the incoming US administration led by Joe Biden.

Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli Defence Force intelligence, said: “With the window of time left for Trump, such a move could lead Iran to a violent response, which would provide a pretext for a US-led attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.”

The Iranian ministry of defence confirmed Fakhrizadeh’s death in a statement. “During the clash between his security team and the terrorists, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was seriously injured and taken to hospital,” it said. “Unfortunately, the medical team did not succeed in reviving him, and a few minutes ago, this manager and scientist, after years of effort and struggle, achieved a high degree of martyrdom.”

Zarif immediately called on European leaders to distance themselves from what he saw as Israel’s actions. “Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today,” he tweeted. “This cowardice – with serious indications of Israeli role – shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators. Iran calls on international community – and especially EU – to end their shameful double standards & condemn this act of state terror.”

Other senior Iranian politicians said the episode showed only naive Iranians believed the US and Israel could ever be trusted in a negotiation.

Fakhrizadeh had been described by western and Israeli intelligence services for years as the leader of a covert atomic bomb programme halted in 2003. He was a central figure in a presentation by the Israeli prime minister, Benajmin Netanyahu, in 2018 accusing Iran of continuing to seek nuclear weapons. “Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh,” Netanyahu said during the presentation.

He accused Iran at the time of hiding and expanding its nuclear weapons knowhow, saying that Israeli intelligence had obtained a half-tonne cache of nuclear archive materials from the country. Iran has always denied it has any interest in developing nuclear weapons, saying its research was for peaceful purposes.

Asked for a comment on the attack, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said: “We don’t comment on reports in the foreign media.” Netanyahu’s office said it would not comment “on those reports”. Trump retweeted a series of stories in Hebrew and English about the killing.

Iranian state TV carried pictures of the bloodstained site of the attack, which will be seen as a massive intelligence failure by Iran. Photos and video shared online showed a Nissan saloon car with bullet holes in the windscreen and blood pooled on the road. The car appeared to have been struck from two directions. Security forces quickly blocked off the road where the attack occurred.

Iran, which reported a record number of new coronavirus infections on Friday, has been on a high security alert, amid reports that Israeli intelligence and secret service have been given the green light to mount attacks on its nuclear installations before Trump stands down as US president.

Many Iranian officials believe Trump, in conjunction with Israel and Saudi Arabia, is determined to weaken the chances of diplomacy by antagonising Iran before the US handover of power on 20 January.

Dehghan said in reference to Trump: “In the last days of the political life of their gambling ally, the Zionists seek to intensify and increase the pressure on Iran to wage a full-fledged war. The night is long. We will descend like lightning on the killers of this oppressed martyr.”

During the final months of Trump’s presidency, Israel has been making peace with Gulf Arab states that share its hostility towards Iran. Earlier this week, Netanyahu travelled to Saudi Arabia and met its crown prince, in the first publicly confirmed visit by an Israeli leader. Israeli media said they were joined by the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.

Biden has said he is willing to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal abandoned by Trump and lift some economic sanctions if Iran comes back into compliance with the agreement, especially over its excess stocks of enriched uranium. Israel and Saudi Arabia want the US to remain outside the deal and continue with Trump’s policy of maximum economic sanctions.

Fakhrizadeh, on a US sanctions list, was regarded as the main keeper of Iranian knowledge of its nuclear programme. A brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a professor of physics at the guard’s Imam Hussein University, he was cloaked in mystery.

Until April 2018, no photograph of him was publicly available, and after the killing of several other nuclear scientists, a further shield of secrecy and security had been thrown around him, in an effort to protect him against Israeli assassins.

[annatar1914]

More blow back from America's elites having an Israel-first foreign policy is to be expected after this kind of event.

Of course, it may help give Biden cover for not being so slavishly pro-Israel as his predecessors in office.

[Atlantis]

More blow back from America's elites having an Israel-first foreign policy is to be expected after this kind of event.

How does that chime with the Trump supporters claims that Trump is against the elites?

[annatar1914]

How does that chime with the Trump supporters claims that Trump is against the elites?

It doesn't. President Trump is very obviously an Israel Firster, and so he got the vote of Israel Firsters among the evangelicals in 2020 but lost votes among his core group who elected him in 2016.

[Atlantis]

It doesn't. President Trump is very obviously an Israel Firster, and so he got the vote of Israel Firsters among the evangelicals in 2020 but lost votes among his core group who elected him in 2016.

I don't understand anti-Semitism and why it's apparently growing again today. Don't tell me it's because of Israel's aggressive policies. It isn't. Anti-Semitism in the West comes mainly from neo-Nazi retards. They don't care about geopolitics, if anything, they probably approve of Israel's hard-handed policies.

But I don't understand the unconditional support for Israel in the US either. I can't believe that a bunch of religious nutcases determine the US's foreign policies. Or is it true that the Neocons use Israel as a means of destabilizing the ME? Anyways, please don't dig the Jewish world conspiracy from it's Nazi graves.

[annatar1914]

I don't understand anti-Semitism and why it's apparently growing again today. Don't tell me it's because of Israel's aggressive policies. It isn't. Anti-Semitism in the West comes mainly from neo-Nazi retards. They don't care about geopolitics, if anything, they probably approve of Israel's hard-handed policies.

''Christian Zionism'' takes up the space that would be otherwise filled by Anti-Semitic Fascists, and said ''Christian'' Zionists project their Anti-Semitism onto other Semites instead of Jews.

But I don't understand the unconditional support for Israel in the US either. I can't believe that a bunch of religious nutcases determine the US's foreign policies.

On the American Right, the ''Christian'' Zionists have the numbers and the money to make it impossible for a GOP candidate to win elections without their support and the support of Israel.

Or is it true that the Neocons use Israel as a means of destabilizing the ME?

That position is also true, and is not exclusive to what I said earlier but reinforces it in fact.

Anyways, please don't dig the Jewish world conspiracy from it's Nazi graves.

I'm giving an accurate assessment of what Trump and other American Israel-firsters believe and/or support politically. They may embarrass Israelis and Jews but they are useful to them against the Iranians and others.

[Drlee]

Why blame America? What is your evidence?

I think Russia did it.

[Sivad]

Today I heard Whitney Webb say that Iran is a democracy and anyone who calls it a theocracy is a racist. That was disappointing, she was doing so good and then she had to go and shit the bed. She's still a good researcher but when it comes to analysis it turns out she's a total fucking idiot.

[Atlantis]

Why blame America? What is your evidence?

I think Russia did it.

Why would Russia want to destabilize an ally. Israel and Trumpland have made no secrete of their desire to destroy Iran by any means possible. Israel has wanted to kill the Iranian scientist for years. That's no secrete. And since Trump wants to wreck as much damage as he possibly can before he has to leave the WH, he has given Israel the all clear for the assassination.

That is also the reason Trump has dispatched the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group to the Golf region "even though there is no immediate threat". It's a deliberate provocation aimed at triggering an international conflict that will make it impossible for Biden to mend relations.

U.S. aircraft carrier deploys to Gulf, Navy says unrelated to 'specific threats'

DUBAI (Reuters) - U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was deployed to the Gulf this week, days before the killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, although the U.S. Navy said on Saturday the deployment was not related to any specific threat.

“There were no specific threats that triggered the return of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group,” Commander Rebecca Rebarich, spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, said in an emailed statement after the carrier deployed on Wednesday.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the Iranian scientist suspected by the West of masterminding a secret nuclear bomb programme, was killed in an ambush near Tehran on Friday, threatening to provoke a new confrontation between Iran and its foes in the last weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Rebarich said the redeployment was related to a U.S. drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This action ensures we have sufficient capability available to respond to any threat and to deter any adversary from acting against our troops during the force reduction,” she said.

It's unbelievable that the psychopath in the White House is allowed to trigger an international conflict at his whim.

The US is the most dangerous country on the planet.

Meanwhile, the EU has condemned this act of state terrorism.

EU condemns killing of Iranian nuclear scientist as ‘criminal act’

“This is a criminal act and runs counter to the principle of respect for human rights the EU stands for. The High Representative expresses his condolences to the family members of the individuals who were killed, while wishing a prompt recovery to any other individuals who may have been injured,” he added in a press statement.

...

The killing threatens to renew tensions between the US and Iran in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s term, just as President-elect Joe Biden has suggested his administration could return to Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers from which Trump earlier withdrew. The Pentagon announced early Saturday that it sent the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier back into the Mideast.

[annatar1914]

Why blame America? What is your evidence?

I think Russia did it.

If they did it, I think you'd be giving them a medal, so to speak. Russia is neither friends with or enemies of Iran, they just have good geopoiltical relations, good business, which is what any nation should have with other countries.

It could just as easily been someone linked to the Israelis or one of the Oil Sheikdoms, like Saudi Arabia. Could have been ISIS or Al-Qaida connected Jihadis too. I don't take Iran's protestations of not wanting nuclear weapons at face value anyway, and would be alarmed if they were close to making their own. And would almost any country including those they do have good relations with in ordinary times.

[MadMonk]

This is definitely an attempt of leaving "an unflushed turd for the next guy'. There are many power factions in the West that wish to see an Iranian War 2.0 (too bad they didn't keep Saddam, right?).

The Iranians will probably launch official protests and proclaim vengeance loudly, while trying to get greater concessions from the EU and reach a détente with a new US administration. It might have been by proxy (likely suspect being Israel) but the approval and timing of it smells of a larger conspiracy.

[B0ycey]

I doubt it was America. Trump couldn't help but tweet about it if it were them. Could he deny himself one final hurrah to rally his core base to donate more to his election ponzi? I doubt it.

I think Iran have is right with Israel. The confidence coming out from Tehran to say as much means they must have some data that confirms this. And we know historically Israel have been taking out Iranian targets.

[Drlee]

I posted the Russia comment mainly to point out that the instant response here was to directly blame the US. Also to point out that though Trump has frequently played into the hands of the Israeli PM, Israel is a far cry from being a US client state.

At the risk of diverting the conversation, Israel is perhaps the most predictable state in the world (beside perhaps Canada). It can absolutely be trusted to act in its own self interest and is completely unafraid of going it alone if necessary. And there is absolutely no doubt that this serves their interests just fine as Boyce says.

Did Israel do this? Who knows? Did (as MadMonk points out) Trump do this in an attempt to tank any attempt by Biden to put the arms deal back together? It seems to me that if Trump did this thinking that it would weaken Biden's hand, he had better think again. If anything this strengthens Biden's hand in negotiations with Iran.

@annatar1914 said:

It could just as easily been someone linked to the Israelis or one of the Oil Sheikdoms, like Saudi Arabia. Could have been ISIS or Al-Qaida connected Jihadis too. I don't take Iran's protestations of not wanting nuclear weapons at face value anyway, and would be alarmed if they were close to making their own. And would almost any country including those they do have good relations with in ordinary times.

It certainly could be any or all of the above. The question is not 'who wanted this guy dead? It is 'who has the balls to do it'? I think it is fair to say that there is hardly anyone outside of Tehran who would resurrect this guy if they could. The attack had all the sophistication of a mob hit. Pitcairn Island could have done it if they had the money for some plane tickets.

As for the presence of a carrier battle group in the region....When was there NOT a carrier battle group in the region? But here is an interesting and FAR more concerning question. Why is it that ALL of our other carrier strike groups are in port for refuel and rearming and only one in dry dock? Hmmm. The US has been surprisingly peaceful for quite some time now. Maybe its just Covid. Yea. I'm sure it is that.

[annatar1914]

@Drlee , you said;

I posted the Russia comment mainly to point out that the instant response here was to directly blame the US.

Sure, nor is my comment a knee-jerk reaction either, as I'm fairly certain Russia does not ever want a nuclear armed and ICBM equipped Iran in the region, good relations or not.

Also to point out that though Trump has frequently played into the hands of the Israeli PM, Israel is a far cry from being a US client state.

Some have said that it's almost the other way around. And if President Trump was put into power by any foreign nation (he wasn't), Israel would be the only one that would have the motive, means, and opportunity to do so.

At the risk of diverting the conversation, Israel is perhaps the most predictable state in the world (beside perhaps Canada). It can absolutely be trusted to act in its own self interest and is completely unafraid of going it alone if necessary. And there is absolutely no doubt that this serves their interests just fine as Boyce says.

This is true. If only America did likewise...

Did Israel do this? Who knows? Did (as MadMonk points out) Trump do this in an attempt to tank any attempt by Biden to put the arms deal back together? It seems to me that if Trump did this thinking that it would weaken Biden's hand, he had better think again. If anything this strengthens Biden's hand in negotiations with Iran.

Biden might not exactly be in the calculations, hard to tell. Perhaps there is more of a continuity between administrations than we realize, when it comes to geopolitics.

It certainly could be any or all of the above. The question is not 'who wanted this guy dead? It is 'who has the balls to do it'? I think it is fair to say that there is hardly anyone outside of Tehran who would resurrect this guy if they could. The attack had all the sophistication of a mob hit. Pitcairn Island could have done it if they had the money for some plane tickets.

That's why my gut tells me it was Sunni Jihadis, possibly hired by the Saudis or other Sunni Arab sheikdoms, although the Jihadis would have incentive enough to do it all on their own for sure. A little messy for an American or Israeli hit maybe.

As for the presence of a carrier battle group in the region....When was there NOT a carrier battle group in the region? But here is an interesting and FAR more concerning question. Why is it that ALL of our other carrier strike groups are in port for refuel and rearming and only one in dry dock? Hmmm. The US has been surprisingly peaceful for quite some time now. Maybe its just Covid. Yea. I'm sure it is that.

As I said, continuity in at least Geopolitics between Administrations is the general rule. Biden and company might want a war on Trump's watch, but as something he started that they can finish and take credit for winning.

[Drlee]

That's why my gut tells me it was Sunni Jihadis, possibly hired by the Saudis or other Sunni Arab sheikdoms, although the Jihadis would have incentive enough to do it all on their own for sure. A little messy for an American or Israeli hit maybe.

Probably.

A stable (nuclear capable) Iran is fundamentalist Islams worst nightmare and the absolute end of any Caliphate. After all. Iran is far from fundamentalist. The grand pubah notwithstanding, they have pretensions of being the big, RICH, dog in the region. It occurs to me that it could also be Turkey. They have a great deal to lose from a strong Iran.

[annatar1914]

@Drlee ;

You stated;

A stable (nuclear capable) Iran is fundamentalist Islams worst nightmare and the absolute end of any Caliphate. After all. Iran is far from fundamentalist. The grand pubah notwithstanding, they have pretensions of being the big, RICH, dog in the region.

Pious Sunni Muslims are not generally fond of Twelver Shia Islam. And the feeling is mutual. However resistance to Israel, being the strategic center of resistance to Israel and other non-Islamic forces in the region, does scare the Oil Sheiks because it could turn Sunni areas into Shia over time.

It occurs to me that it could also be Turkey. They have a great deal to lose from a strong Iran.

Could be, and they use a lot of Jihadis these days. Turkey and Persia fought many wars over the centuries, causing Safavid Persia/Iran to become Shiite in the 1600's in order to make giving in to the Ottoman Turks less appetizing to their subjects.

[Unthinking Majority]

No proof that US or Israel is behind this assassination but it seems very likely.

[annatar1914]

No proof that US or Israel is behind this assassination but it seems very likely.

@Unthinking Majority

If someone did it right, there will never be real proof.

Still, coming as it does during the US Presidential Election, and in the context of the Israelis and the Arabs making ''peace'' because they're terrified of the Persians, and a possible desire to tie down Biden to a particular course of action (or inaction) in the Middle East, and we have the makings of a possible war.

[Drlee]

Remember the end of the movie War Games?

"The only way to win is to not play the game".

This is why Biden is not locked into any course of action. There is a great advantage in the average country behaving in a consistent manner. Not so much for the superpowers. Of course we want people to be confident about us but not TOOOO confident.

The more I think about it, the more I am going with either Anatar's suggestion, the Saudis, or my thought, Turkey. Turkey is under a great deal of pressure these days having overplayed their hand and gotten their PP whacked for it. They need a distraction as to the Saudis.

I am fairly certain that the Israelis and Americans are out of this one for many of the reasons already articulated.

[MadMonk]

I posted the Russia comment mainly to point out that the instant response here was to directly blame the US. Also to point out that though Trump has frequently played into the hands of the Israeli PM, Israel is a far cry from being a US client state.

At the risk of diverting the conversation, Israel is perhaps the most predictable state in the world (beside perhaps Canada). It can absolutely be trusted to act in its own self interest and is completely unafraid of going it alone if necessary. And there is absolutely no doubt that this serves their interests just fine as Boyce says.

Did Israel do this? Who knows? Did (as MadMonk points out) Trump do this in an attempt to tank any attempt by Biden to put the arms deal back together? It seems to me that if Trump did this thinking that it would weaken Biden's hand, he had better think again. If anything this strengthens Biden's hand in negotiations with Iran.

Trump is only a figurehead, if even that, for the forces that wish to do whatever is necessary to topple the Iranian regime.

Your relationship with Israel reminds me of Russia's relationship with Chechnya, both showing the world that (Putin vs. Kadyrov) that they are the ones driving the bus.

This event can absolutely strengthen Biden's hand in future negotiations. It is Terrorism 1.0.1 . When you sit down at the negotiating table, you increase the number of attacks in order to increase leverage.

Look at what Nixon did to Cambodia. You scorch the earth while you retreat, yes? The Russians understand this tactic as well.