[1]

[2] [3] [4] [5]

THE US AND ISRAEL PREPARE FOR IRANIAN REVENGE

By Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar [6]
BESA [7]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Moments before Donald Trump leaves the White House, Iran
may try to avenge the killing of Qassem Soleimani and Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
The Gulf States are prepared, and they expect American protection.

On January 20, 2021, President Donald Trump is slated to exit the scene and
perhaps even the stage of history—but Iran remains. [Note: While ACT For
America does not agree with the writer's opinion about President Trump
exiting the stage of history, we felt this analysis on Iran is important
for our members to read]. Its leaders took hard hits from Trump during his
tenure, but worst of all is the way he humiliated them in the eyes of the
world. The ayatollahs held on despite everything Trump threw at them, but
their honor was trampled. For that there is no forgiving or forgetting.

And January 3, 2021 is the first anniversary of the killing of Gen. Qassem
Soleimani, the legendary figure who gave the Iranian leadership the ability
to effectively take over Arab countries. His killing by US drone strike
left a void that his successors have had a hard time filling. The Iranian
leaders will not take Soleimani’s killing in stride without seeking a
form of revenge that suits his level of importance.

Also killed, in November 2020, was the father of Iran’s military nuclear
program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Tehran claims Israel was responsible for this
“crime,” which similarly awaits a revenge operation that the Iranian
regime has no choice but to carry out.

I expect the Iranian leaders to mount an impressive military operation on
January 19 in Soleimani’s, and possibly also Fakhrizadeh’s, name—one
that will restore their lost honor and their longstanding status as
regional bully.

The Iranian revenge operation will not be conducted from Iranian soil but
from two, possibly three, of its satellite states—Yemen, Iraq, and
Syria—so as not to incriminate Tehran directly (certainly not in the eyes
of US President-elect Biden) and to demonstrate Iran’s control of those
countries despite longstanding American and Israeli efforts to thwart it.
The operation will be carried out by “local liberation forces”—that
is, local Shiite militias orchestrated by the Quds Force, which was
Soleimani’s tool.

It can reasonably be assumed that Iranian “advisers” will be present
and active at the launch sites of missiles and drones that may be directed
(again) at the US Embassy in Baghdad and at US military bases in Iraq and
Syria, and possibly also at Saudi oil facilities (as in September 2019) as
well as the oil facilities of the UAE and Bahrain so as to highlight the
inability of their new ally, Israel, to protect them from their big,
strong, respected neighbor.

Why January 19? Because that will be one day before Trump’s exit from the
White House. He will not have time to put into motion any serious
retaliation against Iran.

If the Iranian leaders are indeed aiming to mount an operation of this
kind, the US, Saudi, and Israeli intelligence agencies are presumably aware
of it. That is the likely reason why we have seen in recent weeks a
boosting of the US presence in the Gulf. In just one month, the US
dispatched three B-52 bombers to the region as well as a nuclear submarine
and two missile-bearing battleships. An Israeli submarine has also
reportedly left for the region.

On December 18, US Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Mark Milley visited Israel and
met with PM Netanyahu, Defense Minister Gantz, and Chief of Staff Kochavi.
After the meeting, Gantz said, “We will act in partnership in the face of
any scenario on the Iranian front. We will work together to deal with our
common threats so as to preserve stability in the Middle East together with
our allies.”

On December 20, the US Embassy in Baghdad was subjected to a rocket
bombardment. The US administration said Tehran was behind the attack, which
made use of Iranian-made rockets. Three days later, it was reported that
the US security organizations would soon present Trump with several
possibilities for retaliation without igniting a war.

On December 24, Trump conveyed a grave warning to Tehran that it would be
held responsible for any attack on an American citizen or soldier even if
carried out by a Shiite militia, and called on Iranian leaders to “think
it over” before instigating such an attack. On December 25, it was
reported in Israel that the IDF had been placed on alert because of a
possible US strike on Iran before Trump exits the White House.

Israel fears an attack on its infrastructure facilities like the attack on
the Saudi oil installations. An attack of that nature could come from
Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, or Syria. It is possible that this concern explains
operations in Syria in recent weeks that have been attributed to Israel.
The IDF spokesperson told the Saudi Elaph website that Israel is closely
monitoring Iran’s moves in Iraq and Yemen and has information about
missiles and drones that Tehran is secretly developing and building in
those countries.

The states of the Arabian Peninsula are divided into three distinct groups:
Yemen and Qatar, which are Iranian satellites and serve it in every
possible way; Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE, which fear a
confrontation that will make them a target of Iranian missiles; and Oman
and Kuwait, which sit on the fence and try to reconcile between the US and
Iran so as to save the combustible region from a war that would have no
winners, only losers.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE are in a very delicate and complex
position. On the one hand, they fear an American or Iranian operation that
could cause huge damage to the oil industry, to tourism, and to the notable
economic stability they have built over decades. On the other hand, these
states certainly do not want Iran to regain the power it wielded until four
years ago, power that would be translated into diplomatic and military
pressure from Tehran that would turn them into marionettes of the
ayatollahs and force them to submit to Iranian political dictates (for
example, to sever or freeze relations with Israel and the US and remove
their military and perhaps even economic presence).

Nor is there any enthusiasm in Jerusalem over a possible conflagration in
the Gulf that could extend to Israel in the form of a missile offensive
from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, or Yemen. Warnings have also been heard recently
from the Houthis in Yemen, who control the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the
southern gateway to the Red Sea through which much of the world’s (and
also Israel’s) maritime traffic passes.

To keep its allies safe from an Iranian revenge attack, Washington
presumably will not launch a military strike on Iran from any of the
countries in the region, should it launch a strike at all. The
B-52s—America’s strategic bombers—will take off for their Iran
mission from bases in the US or from the island of Diego Garcia in the
Indian Ocean. Moreover, the US has submarines and battleships in the
region, including aircraft carriers and destroyers. It is capable of
hitting Iran and its proxies at any time without involving its allies, and
perhaps without even taking their positions into account.

On the eve of 2021, the temperature in the Gulf region is rising despite
the winter. It will likely reach boiling point at the very end of Trump’s
term in office.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_ACT For America is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not receive any
government funding or grants so that we are not muzzled from speaking the
truth. We rely on the generosity of patriots who believe in the importance
of our work so we can continue exposing America's enemies foreign or
domestic and mobilizing Americans to stand up and defend freedom. We would
be so grateful for your support. [8]_
Copyright © 2021. ACT for America,
All rights reserved.
1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Suite 190, #614
Washington, DC 20004
United States

Unsubscribe [9] | Support ACT [8]

Share

[2] [3] [4] [5]



Links:
------
[1] [link removed]
[2] [link removed]
[3] [link removed]
[4] [link removed]
[5] [link removed]
[6] [link removed]
[7] [link removed]
[8] [link removed]
[9] [link removed]