It has been revealed that two Iranians from the covert action wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, Quad Force, have been plotting to assassinate top officials who served in President Trump’s government.
John Bolton is one of those who the Iranians have plotted to kill. Similar threats have also been made against former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
However, Biden has resisted publicly indicating the men, for fear it will derail the nuclear deal talks currently underway in Austria.
Biden’s special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, has warned that the world must “prepare” for an unconstrained nuclear Iran. The warning comes as nuclear talks with the Islamic Republic continue to stall.
A leaked recording obtained by the New York Times apparently shows former Secretary of State John Kerry telling the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about Israeli military strikes.
Twitter has come under fire for not taking any action over Iran’s Khamenei’s post calling for the elimination of Israel. However, Twitter has seen his Twitter account restricted over tweets about law and order in response to the violent protests sweeping America. Twitter has said Trump’s posts “incite violence”. The social media giant has been accused of double standards.
Twitter’s response has been to argue that Iran’s posts concerning the mass genocide of Israel is “foreign policy sabre-rattling”.
“We have an approach toward leaders that says that direct interactions with fellow public figures, comments on political issues of the day, or foreign policy sabre-rattling on military-economic issues are generally not in violation of our rules,” Ylwa Pettersson, Twitter’s head policy for the Nordic countries and Israel, told the Knesset’s Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, via video-conference.
If a world leader violates our rules but there is a clear interest in keeping that up on the service we may place it behind a notice that provides some more context about the violation and allows people to click through if they wish to see that type of content,” Pettersson replied.
“That’s what happened for the Trump tweet: that tweet was violating our policies regarding the glorification of violence based on the historical context of the last line of that tweet and the risk that it could possibly inspire harm and similar actions.”
Coronavirus has hit Iran hard. With members of the Iranian government contracting the illness. It has now been confirmed that Mohammad Mirmohammadi, 71, who was an Expediency Council member and adviser to Khamenei has died. COVID-19 has already infected Iran’s Vice President and Deputy Health Minister.
Iran has rejected help from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The US are concerned that Iran is covering up details about the spread of the virus.
Iran’s mortality rate of the virus has been 5.5%, compared with 2% in China. The virus has killed at least 66 people in Iran, the highest death toll outside of China. The majority of 1,150 cases throughout the Middle East are linked back to the country.
Iran has closed schools, but has allowed religious sites to remain open. Footage from Iran last week showed Iranians licking shrines in defiance to the virus.
An audacious drone strike by the U.S. has killed top Iranian General Qassim Soleimani. The President has said the assassination was to prevent a plot against America. President Trump described Soleimani as “the number one terrorist anywhere in the world.”
Mr Trump said: “We took action last night to stop a war, we did not take action to start a war.
“Soleimani made the death of innocent people his sick passion, contributing to terror plots as far away as New Delhi and London. His reign of terror is over.
“He was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and and personnel but we caught him in the act and terminated him.”
The attack happened whilst Soleimani, the head of the elite Quads Force, was in Baghdad. U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien said Soleimani was moving around the Middle East planning imminent attacks on U.S. diplomats and military personnel.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has issued a statement vowing to retaliate:
“America should know that its criminal attack on General Soleimani has been the country’s biggest mistake in west Asia, and America will not avoid the consequences of this wrong calculation easily,” it said.
“These criminals will face severe vengeance… in the right place and time,”
Iran, China and Russia have held joint naval drills in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. The operations come at a time of increased tension between the US and Iran. In May last year the US withdrew from the nuclear deal signed by Obama.
“The message of this exercise is peace, friendship and lasting security through cooperation and unity… and its effect will be to show that Iran cannot be isolated,” Rear Admiral Gholamreza Tahani said on state television.
Iranian State television said the co-operation between the nations signals “the new triangle of power in the sea”.
Iran said the drills aims were to increase security, combat piracy, and strengthen intelligence sharing operations.
Japan also said on Friday it would send its own battle ships to the region to aid security, but would not join a US-led collision. The Japanese Chief of Cabinet said “Japan’s own measure aimed at peace and stability in the Middle East as well as ensuring safety of Japan-related vessels,”
It has been reported the Iran will soon hold a joint naval drill in international waters with China and Russia. The exercise will be held in the north Indian Ocean.
The announcement came after the US announced they will be sending a moderate number of troops to the Gulf region. This is in response to attacks by Iran on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard have said they shot down a US drone that entered into it’s air space. However, they say the drone was accompanied by a US plane which had 35 people on board. The Iranians claim this also strayed into it’s air space, but they refrained from shooting it down.
Thursday saw two oil tankers- one Norwegian, the other Japanese- attacked in the Gulf of Oman. Crew members rescued from the Japanese vessel said, “that the ship was attacked by a flying object”. These fresh attacks come after four vessels were targeted a month ago.
The US have blamed Iran for the attacks, claims the Iranians deny. It is thought the Iranians are seeking to disrupt international shipping in one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. US-Iranain relations have deteriorated recently. The US have sent an aircraft carrier in response to the heightened threat from Iran in the region.
In a recent propaganda message on a jihadist forum, Al Qaeda have posted a map of future strikes on countries sympathetic to the French, following French and allied attempts to oust Al Qaeda forces from Mali.
Concern over President Obama’s nominee for Defense Secretary, former Senator Chuck Hagel, who is set to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
Conservative former officers say Mr. Hagel is the wrong person to head the Pentagon because of his soft-line views on Iran, hostility toward Israel and support for cuts in U.S. military and nuclear forces.
The Pentagon has announced that Iran fired at an American drone last week as it flew over international waters. The incident occurred 16 nautical miles off the Kuwait coast on November 1st.
The Pentagon’s announcement coincides with a fresh round of sanctions imposed on Iran by the administration. The White House said these new sanctions are, “related to the Iranian government’s human rights abuses, it’s support of terrorism and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
The drone attack was the first of it’s kind over international waters in the Persian Gulf region.