Date: Friday, October 11, 2019
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary L. Bauer, Director

Iranian Tanker Hit

There are bizarre reports today indicating that an Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea was attacked, hit by two missiles or rockets near the port of Jeddah on the western coast of Saudi Arabia.

The reports are coming from Iranian media, and so far there has been no independent verification of the attack. As the BBC put it, "This story is as clear as mud. It seemed to change."

The BBC notes that Iranian reports identified two ships as being hit, yet "both tankers are currently steaming at full speed in their different directions so there is no evidence that either vessel has been impaired in any way."

It's possible the Iranian reports are totally false and meant as propaganda for domestic consumption only to portray Iran as a victim. Early reports also accused Saudi Arabia of "terrorism."

It's possible that the tanker was attacked by Houthi rebels in Yemen, who mistook it for a Saudi tanker. I can also think of several other possible explanations as well.

Whatever the truth happens to be, the reports are just more evidence of the growing volatility in the Middle East, with Iran at the center of the mayhem.

In related news, the Pentagon announced today that it is deploying additional troops, fighters and Patriot missile batteries to Saudi Arabia in order to counter Iranian aggression.

Not Normal

Jonathan Tobin, editor-in-chief of the Jewish News Syndicate, wrote an excellent column this week drawing attention to Iran's repeated calls for a second Holocaust and the West's bizarre response.

It's a point we have emphasized in these reports and one which deserves constant attention because Iran is not a normal country and such threats must be taken seriously. After all, that is the lesson of "Never Again" and the West's failure to take Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany seriously. Here are some excerpts of Tobin's article.

"Gen. Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, gave a speech last month in which he celebrated Iran's military might. . . Salami said that 40 years after the Iranian revolution that put the Islamist regime in power, it had 'managed to obtain the capacity to destroy the imposter Zionist regime.' . . .

"Salami isn't the first Iranian leader to make such threats. They have been a staple of Iranian political rhetoric for decades, including from the country's top ayatollahs who run that theocracy. But the fact that the IRGC . . . is still spouting talk about wiping out the sole Jewish state on the planet does raise some interesting and painfully obvious questions to which there are no good answers.

"The first concerns the unwillingness of Iran's European trading partners to confront the fact that they are still seeking to cultivate good relations with an Iranian regime that embraces genocide of Jews as a legitimate policy goal. . .

"The leading countries of Western Europe are up in arms over the Trump administration's efforts to isolate Iran and force it to renegotiate the nuclear deal. France recently floated the idea of offering a $15 billion loan to Tehran, which was, in effect, a proposal for a ransom payment that would cause Iran to stop attacking shipping vessels in the Persian Gulf and oil facilities in neighboring countries.

"Despite Iran's provocations, the European Union and its foreign-policy minister, Federica Mogherini, speak as if efforts by the United States to end the nuclear threat are the obstacle to peace, rather than a government that remains the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism and which continues to speak of genocidal attacks on Israel. . .

"The alternative to appeasement of Iran is Trump's policy of 'maximum pressure' to strangle the Iranian economy, which will eventually force the Iranians back to the negotiating table. . .

"[The 2020 presidential candidates] ought to be asked about what they intend to do about Iran's continuing genocidal threats and why a pact that offered it a path to a nuclear bomb should be reinstated. Iran isn't a normal country, and neither Europe nor America's opposition party should speak as if it were."

"Season of our Rejoicing!"

CUFI Action Fund wishes all of our Jewish friends and supporters a blessed Sukkot as they celebrate God's providence.

NOTE: Our office will be closed Monday for Columbus Day. The CUFI Action Fund report will resume Tuesday, October 15th.