On Thursday, November 10, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the United States and Israel against attacking Iran, saying:
"Anybody who takes up the idea of an attack on Iran, should get ready to receive a strong slap and an iron fist."Two days after Khamenei made those remarks, Israel and the shadow government in the United States tested Iran's mettle.
On Saturday, November 12, Israel teamed up with the MEK, a notorious terrorist cult that has killed numerous CIA agents and Iranian officials in the past, to kill nearly 17 Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers at an Iranian military base near Tehran. Among the dead was the founder of the country's missile defense, Maj. Gen. Hassan Moghaddam.
At a funeral held on Monday for the Martyrs who died in the attack, Tehran's mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf sang Moghaddam's praises and acknowledged that he was killed by Iran's enemies, saying:
At a funeral held on Monday for the Martyrs who died in the attack, Tehran's mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf sang Moghaddam's praises and acknowledged that he was killed by Iran's enemies, saying:
"Martyr Moghadam was unknown in the Revolutionary Guard. Our enemies knew him better than our friends. He is irreplaceable."The mayor's emotional speech diverted from the official line of the Iranian government, which is calling the Israeli attack an "accident."
Nobody would like to see Iran respond with irrational passion and blind anger more than Israel. So Iranian leaders are following a smart and sensible strategy at this time. Revenge can wait for now.
Attacking Israel would play into its hands, since it badly wants a war with Iran to divert domestic attention from the Israeli social justice movement and international attention from the Palestinian diplomatic struggle that has already claimed major victories on the international stage.
The journalist/blogger Richard Silverstein originally broke the story that the Mossad and the MEK attacked Iran on Saturday. In an interview with Scott Horton of Antiwar.com on November 15, Silverstein said that this latest act of Israeli aggression against Iran is part of a longer "black ops program" that Israel is using against Iran.
Silverstein told Horton:
"There is a two-pronged strategy that Israel and the U.S. is following with regards to Iran. One track might be a direct military attack on Iran to try to take out their nuclear facilities. And the alternate approach is this black ops program which has involved major acts of terror at missile bases.Israel could be using covert methods either in preparation for a full frontal military attack on Iran in the near future, or as an alternative to an all out war.
This was the second major explosion at a missile base. There was one a year ago that killed eighteen Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers. There was at least three assassinations of nuclear scientists in and around Tehran. And an IRG military transport plane was dropped out of the sky a couple of years ago. And Israeli reporters who follow the security beat in Israel have reported that all of those were acts that the Mossad and the MEK had some hand in.
So there seems to be this approach in Israel that if we don't want to do a full head-on military attack then we'll try this black ops approach and see if we can delay the Iranians and take out some of their key brains in the nuclear program.
And my take on this is that neither approach is going to work. The black ops approach to me is a substitute for having a real policy towards Iran, and it's not going to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, if that is what they do want to do. The only way to really address the Iranian nuclear threat, if you want to call it that, is by negotiation between all the parties involved. And that's something that neither side seems to be interested in, so it just turns out to be a huge mess really."
My best guess is that Israel is trying to make Iran as weak as possible before going ahead with an attack on its nuclear facilities, but this strategy is short-sighted and it will backfire.
What this attack achieved in doing is angering the Iranian leadership and people, and making them more united against Israel.
By killing an Iranian hero in the hopes of derailing Iran's defenses, Israel is bringing death and misery upon itself. That is something I do not wish upon any nation. But that is what will happen if Israel does not abandon its self-destructive course.
The saddest thing in this grand tragedy is that it seems Israeli leaders want to see the destruction of Israel more than Iranian leaders. Their policies towards Iran and the international community are based on terrorism, deception, fraud, paranoia, hatred, and irrational hostility.
Hopefully the Israeli people will stop their deranged and criminal leaders from committing Israel to a total and reckless war with Iran. If they don't, they will be ruined and desolated, and their legacy will be one of shame and disgrace.
