Trump's last wish as president war with Iran. He's wanted one, and pushed for it, for four years, so i don't think there is any doubt he craves it for his last grand hurrah.
On all the evidence it's virtually certain the U.S. and Saudi Arabia were in on the assassination of Fakhrizadeh.
Was scientist’s killing the opening shot of a Trump-led war on Iran?
Simon Tisdall
The assassination of the country’s top nuclear expert raises fears that the outgoing US president is determined to take further action
US president Donald Trump meets with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in September. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Sat 28 Nov 2020 23.35 AEDT Last modified on Sun 29 Nov 2020 04.49 AEDT
The assassination on Friday of Iran’s leading nuclear scientist has heightened suspicions t hat Donald Trump, in cahoots with hardline Israeli and Saudi allies, may be trying to lure the Tehran regime into an all-out confrontation .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/27/mohsen-fakhrizadeh-iranian-nuclear-scientist-reportedly-shot-dead-near-tehran .. in the dying days of his presidency. Trump’s four-year-long Iranian vendetta is approaching a climax – and he still has the power and the means to inflict lasting damage.
Speculation that Trump might soon initiate or support some kind of attack on Iran, overt or covert, kinetic or cyber, had swirled across the Middle East in the wake of last weekend’s unprecedented meeting in Saudi Arabia between Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/mohammed-bin-salman .
What the three men discussed remains a closely guarded secret .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/23/benjamin-netanyahu-secret-meeting-saudi-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman , a fact that has only served to encourage conspiracy claims. In the absence of an official statement, it’s suggested they may have agreed to intensify efforts to provoke and weaken the Tehran regime. Any ensuing retaliation by Iran might then potentially be used to justify an attack on its nuclear facilities before Trump leaves office on 20 January.
The meeting in Neom, a city near the Red Sea, and the possibly deliberate leak revealing it had taken place, served another important purpose. By presenting a united anti-Iran front, the participants put US president-elect Joe Biden on notice that his plans to resume dialogue with Tehran, and revive the 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by Trump, will face fierce resistance and may have to be rethought.
If Iran hits back over the assassination, as threatened by its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Biden’s hopes of calming the regional situation could be blown apart – along with Iran’s nuclear facilities at Natanz and elsewhere. And there’s another danger. Even if the regime holds back, loyalist Shia militias in Iraq, Syria or Lebanon could take matters into their own hands.
- [Insert: And/or other radical groups - Bush Jr., biggest recruiter for AQ, ISIS and other terrorist groups with his invasion of Iraq. Trump biggest recruiter for KKK and white terrorist groups in America with his support of political violence, and his racist rallies and tweets. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=150184029
Iran’s leaders have little doubt that Israel, with a probable green light from Washington, was behind the assassination. President Hassan Rouhani expressly blamed the “usurper Zionist regime .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/28/iran-president-blames-israel-for-scientist-killing-and-vows-nuclear-progress-will-continue ”. Foreign minister Javad Zarif tweeted that there were “serious indications” of an Israeli role. “Iran calls on international community – and especially EU – to end their shameful double standards & condemn this act of state terror,” he wrote.
The methods used to kill the scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was gunned down in a street near Tehran, resembled those used in a spate of similar killings of nuclear experts between 2010 and 2012 that Iran blamed on Israel .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/israel . In 2018, Netanyahu singled Fakhrizadeh out as Iran’s supposed nuclear weapons mastermind.
The assassination also recalled last January’s lethal ambush of General Qassem Suleimani, the Iranian Islamic revolutionary guard corps commander, which was personally ordered by Trump .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/03/baghdad-airport-iraq-attack-deaths-iran-us-tensions . While Suleimani was regarded as a national hero, Fakhrizadeh was also a man of high seniority. For Iran, his death is a body blow.
Trump has shown himself ready to use covert means to punish the Iranian regime, which he accuses of secretly developing nuclear weapons and destabilising the Middle East – claims Iran adamantly denies. The US and Israel are believed to have launched repeated sabotage attacks inside Iran on Trump’s watch.
In July, the Natanz nuclear fuel enrichment facilities were damaged by a mysterious explosion. This month, Trump reportedly discussed options for hitting Natanz and other targets after UN inspectors said Iran’s low-enriched uranium stockpile was now 12 times higher .. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/11/irans-low-enriched-uranium-stockpile-12-times-beyond-limits-un .. than permitted under the 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by Trump.
For still undisclosed reasons, Trump ordered several nuclear-capable B-52 Stratofortress bombers to fly 7,000 miles to the Middle East last weekend.
Was the assassination a one-off designed to damage Iran’s nuclear programme? Or could all this be a prelude to something more strategically explosive as Trump strives to secure his wished-for legacy as scourge of Iran and saviour of Israel?
[I mean it would no doubt be interpreted as prophecy come true. A biblical success of grand proportion. For, and by, "The Chosen One."]
Trump certainly needs a win. His Iran policy to date has mostly resulted in own goals. His “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign hurt the Iranian people but left their leaders unbowed. The regime is now closer to acquiring nuclear bomb-making capability than it would have been had Trump not reneged on the nuclear deal.
Yet what happens next also depends, up to a point, on Israel and Saudi Arabia .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/saudiarabia . Netanyahu and Prince Mohammed are keen to send a message to Biden that what they characterise as appeasement of Iran will not work. If the nuclear deal is to be resurrected, they want loopholes plugged and new elements added. Meanwhile, they say sanctions on Iran should continue.
But both men must tread carefully. Netanyahu cannot ignore Biden’s views or the impact expanding hostilities could have on Israel’s security. As for the crown prince, he would doubtless like to see Iran given a bloody nose. But he, too, has to ponder the cost of turning Saudi cities and oil terminals into targets. For them, the assassination represents a high-risk gamble.
Iran’s leaders must now decide whether to resist the urge to retaliate – or lash out and invite a larger conflict at a moment when the country’s sanctions and Covid-hit economy is on its knees. It’s a fateful moment for the entire Middle East. Full of brooding malevolence, Trump is waiting to pounce. After four years of failure, he may be tempted to go out with a bang.
Of course America was consulted - Former FBI Official Discusses The Assassination Of Iranian Scientist And Iran's Response | MSNBC
"Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's top nuclear scientist, assassinated near Tehran"
•Nov 30, 2020
MSNBC
Former FBI Assistant Director of Counterintelligence, Frank Figliuzzi, talks about the assassination of the Iranian scientist and Israel's role in the attack. Leading nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed near Tehran in a roadside attack on Friday, a day after Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to retaliate and pledged to continue Iran's nuclear work. Figliuzzi says, "Israel realizes they have a few weeks to get done what it is they need done, with the President of the U.S. likely to allow them to do it."» Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc -
Iran nuclear deal hangs in balance as US shows intent for direct talks
"Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's top nuclear scientist, assassinated near Tehran"
Biden administration’s willingness revealed in joint statement by US, UK, France and Germany
Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, has denied that Tehran is trying to put pressure on Washington. Photograph: AP
Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor Fri 19 Feb 2021 00.05 AEDT Last modified on Fri 19 Feb 2021 09.25 AEDT
The future of the Iran nuclear deal .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-nuclear-deal .. is hanging in the balance as the US acknowledged for the first time that it is prepared to hold direct talks with Tehran over how both sides can come back into strict compliance with its terms.
Washington revealed its willingness to hold talks in a joint statement issued by the US secretary of state, Tony Blinken, and the foreign ministers of France, Germany .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/germany .. and the UK.
The statement also stressed that the three European nations welcomed the prospect of the US and Iran returning to compliance with the nuclear deal, and then strengthening it and addressing broader security concerns.
The phrasing about sequencing allows for a mutual return to the existing deal without a necessary commitment by both sides to renegotiate and strengthen it, something to which Iran .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran .. is adamantly opposed.
The four diplomats also warned Iran not to go ahead with plans to increase pressure on Washington by banning snap intrusive inspections of its nuclear sites, describing any such decision as “dangerous and grave particularly at the time of renewed diplomatic opportunity”.
The cut back in International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections would cover not just nuclear sites, and could come as early as Tuesday.
The US is likely to have to offer something more specific either in direct talks or through intermediaries for Iran to hold off next week from withdrawing from the additional protocol, the legal framework that governs the IAEA inspection regime.
Iran’s parliament, which is dominated by hardliners,
[Which is exactly what American conservatives connive and cudgel to create in America.]
announced the measure as the next stage of its brinkmanship more than two months ago, with some hoping the deadline would provoke the new US administration into making a specific offer for Washington’s return to the nuclear deal, as Joe Biden pledged would happen during his presidential election campaign.
The Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has tried to play down the significance of withdrawing from the additional protocol, saying it was voluntarily accepted by Iran and gave the IAEA exceptional access beyond what is normal. Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, said on Thursday that it was propaganda to suggest Iran was putting pressure on the US, arguing that Tehran was only asking it to comply with the law. In a message aimed at Biden, he said: “Surrendering to law is not a fault. Do not shy away. What is bad is surrendering to force.”
[Seems fair. We just murdered their top nuclear scientist on top of the others in years past: Between 2010 and 2012, four Iranian nuclear scientists (Masoud Alimohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Darioush Rezaeinejad and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan) were assassinated, while another (Fereydoon Abbasi) was wounded in an attempted murder.[1][2] In November 2020 another scientist (Mohsen Fakhrizadeh) was assassinated. .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Iranian_nuclear_scientists In light that sort of aggression against them it's not unreasonable for Iran to go for some edge too.]
The IAEA director, Rafael Grossi, will fly to Tehran on Saturday to talk through the detail of Iran’s proposed new inspection regime. The concern in European capitals .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/17/grave-military-implications-iran-making-uranium-metal-alarms-europe .. is that Tehran is close to taking irreversible steps in its nuclear research programme and its ability to reduce its breakout time to make fissile material. A cut back in IAEA inspections on top of a variety of other issues, including 20% uranium enrichment, the use of advanced centrifuges and a heavy water reactor, may be seen as a step too far by European foreign ministers.
In the joint US, UK, French and German statement, the four countries expressed shared concern over Iran’s recent actions to produce uranium enriched up to 20% and uranium metal. These activities have no credible justification. Uranium metal is a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon.
There has so far been no direct front door contact between Washington and Tehran, but Blinken spoke to Qatar’s foreign minister, before the latter travelled to Iran this week as a mediator. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, also spoke to Rouhani on Wednesday night to urge him not to cut back on the inspections.
Merkel, along with Biden, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, are all expected to address the Munich Security Conference on Friday, providing an ideal stage to send messages to Iran. It is unclear, however, whether Biden will want to be seen to be making an offer under perceived duress.
Tehran has insisted since Biden was elected that the US lift all of the Trump-era sanctions .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/03/iran-comply-nuclear-deal-biden-lifts-all-sanctions .. as a first step, and in return it would immediately come back into full compliance with the nuclear deal, including on uranium enrichment levels. Biden could lift most of Trump-era sanctions by executive order, but in practice the absence of trust is such that both sides will favour step-by-step measures with each step followed by a pause for verification.
As a first step the US could lift its opposition to an IMF loan to Iran, end some of the restrictions on Iranian assets in overseas bank accounts and ease the flow of humanitarian aid. The European council president, Charles Michel, also spoke to Rouhani and underlined “the need to preserve a space for diplomacy, underpinned by positive steps, was crucial at this stage”.
[Must remember it was Trump, the US, who pulled out of the deal. So steps back toward the pre-'Trump the Bump' situation as a first step feels fair.]
Significantly, Michel stressed the two men had discussed the socioeconomic and health impact of Covid-19, a hint that the EU may be willing to provide humanitarian aid.
Iran, however, in the foothills of a presidential election campaign of its own in which there is little mileage in being soft on Washington, has demanded the complete lifting of all of the sanctions and the US’s return to the nuclear deal. It also insists the existing deal cannot be renegotiated or expanded to include others aspects of Tehran’s regional behaviour.
Iran has been surprised by how long Biden has taken to construct a specific offer, and Zarif has warned: “They will soon realise time is not in their favour”.
Biden has taken a month for inter-agency consultation, but must be close to setting out a plan that may involve direct contact between Tehran and Washington.
He also has to take into account not just the views of Congress, but his regional allies Israel and Saudi Arabia. He spoke to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for the first time since his inauguration on Wednesday night, and Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to the US returning to the nuclear deal.
T'would be good if Biden could tell Netanyahu to get stuffed and to just concentrate on his own corruption situation, but it's politics, eh.
See also:
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