Is Iran Baiting The U.S. Into Deeper Syrian Quicksand?

will the Trump Administration maintain a laser focus to turn the keys over to Arab stabilization force to prevent the return of ISIS after Raqqa falls, or will it take Iran’s bait and slide deeper into the Syrian quagmir?

HUFFPOST, June, 28,2017-- With new U.S. intelligence suggesting Syria’s Assad may be preparing to launch another chemical weapons attack on his beleaguered people, the White House preemptively warned Assad “would pay a heavy price” if an attack was launched.
Assad’s April 2017 sarin gas attack resulted in dozens of innocent civilian deaths. Recall that in response, the Trump Administration served up a retaliatory strike of 59 Tomahawk missiles against the Syrian airbase from which the chemical weapons attack was launched. On its face, Assad may not have learned a lesson, but there is far more below the desert sands than meets the eye regarding Iran’s and Assad’s goal of booting American boots out of Syria. In those baked and bloodied Syrian sands the U.S. is playing checkers against Russia while Iran is playing for keeps while setting a deadly trap for us.

As serious as a military confrontation between Russian and American forces in Syria, it is a diversion insofar as the future of Syria is concerned. Moscow warned Washington following President Trump’s April retaliation that it would “stop” any further U.S. attacks against Assad’s military. The skies over Syria are as crowded as a Beltway traffic jam – ripe for an unintended or intentional incident between Russian and American war planes. Just last week, U.S. fighters shot down a Syrian warplane that had attacked American-supported Syrian Kurdish fighters advancing on ISIS’s stronghold at Raqqa. Soon thereafter, two Iranian-made drones probing American defenses south of Raqqa near the al-Tanf military base were destroyed by an American F-15.

Putin warned Washington that Russian anti-aircraft missiles would fire on any American aircraft flying west of the Euphrates River – Russia’s version of a “no-fly” zone. It is a dicey roll of the dice whether Putin would risk a duel with the American air force over the skies of Syria. But given his doubling down for Assad, Putin can ill afford to turn Syrian airspace over to the U.S. He would rather prove his point than walk back from his own red line.
Washington now confronts another “Kodak” moment in Syria: will the Trump Administration maintain a laser focus to turn the keys over to a Sunni Arab stabilization force to prevent the return of ISIS after Raqqa falls, or will it take Iran’s bait and slide deeper into the Syrian quagmire on Tehran’s terms?
To understand exactly what a slippery slope we are on it would be helpful to have a map of Syria in front of you. It is hard enough for a professional military officer to understand the Syrian battlefield, let alone arm-chair generals (of which I am not).
Near the triangular intersection of the Iraqi-Syrian-Jordanian border sits al-Tanf ― a former Syrian military base now the major headquarters for U.S. military advisers and other anti-ISIS coalition forces, including Maghawir al-Thawra (MAT―Revolutionary Commando Army). MAT are the “good guys” and was founded in May 2015 to battle ISIS incursions into Jordan. Along with their American advisers, MAT recruits are the “southern cousins” of their northern Kurdish American allies advancing in a pincer movement along a north-south axis to encircle Raqqa and cut off fleeing ISIS fighters.
However, Raqqa, and its fall, is a side show to Tehran.
What matters to Iran and Assad is the American base at al-Tanf and the Syrian province surrounding it. Because al-Tanf abuts the old Damascus-Baghdad highway – and is on the geographical nexus of a “Shiite Crescent” land corridor designed to link Tehran with Beirut via Baghdad and Damascus, the Iranians are determined to boot the Americans out. Worse for Iranian strategic aims, the Americans at al-Tanf are about to be reinforced by the first elements of a new Sunni Arab counterterrorism force being deployed to hold and stabilize eastern Syria after Raqqa falls. To put it in historical terms, the American base at al-Tanf is a veritable “Bastogne” standing in the way of that ayatollah aspiration.
The formation and eventual deployment of this combined American/Sunni Arab counterterrorism force is one of the very successful outcomes of President Trump’s U.S. – Arab Summit in Riyadh last month – an essential bulwark to destroy the remnants of ISIS and prevent it from regaining toeholds in the notoriously ungovernable eastern Syrian and western Iraqi deserts. The sooner that expeditionary force is deployed, the better and safer it will be for Americans stationed in Syria.
Iran plans to prevent a linkup of coalition forces along that north-south axis slicing across Syria through Raqqa by deploying an Iranian-backed Shiite militia force to divide American forces in two between those stationed at al-Tanf, and those supporting Syrian YPG Kurdish forces based in northern Syria abutting the Turkish frontier. Iranian-backed Shiite militias advancing from western Iraq (which did not participate in the battle to retake Mosul from ISIS) are moving slowly west as Syrian forces move east to secure this complex route that weaves its way across Arab Iraq into Syrian Kurdish lands into devastated Aleppo.
The ultimate prize sought by the Iranians: the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor, where most of Syria’s oil resources are located and a land corridor to enable Iran to resupply and embolden its terrorist proxies, notably Hezbollah, without having to rely on an air route into Damascus.
Iran would never risk a head-on confrontation with American-backed forces. Instead, Tehran is hoping to divert American attention (and forces) away from the al-Tanf triangle to far south-western Syria where its terrorist proxies ― Iran-backed Shiite militias and Hezbollah forces ― are probing Israeli defenses on the Golan Heights as a feint. Once Raqqa falls, Iran is planning to enable the deployment of fresh troops from Assad’s Syrian army to secure the strategic lands of eastern Syria hitherto under ISIS control and lay the groundwork for a terrorist attack against American forces in eastern Syria, the rationale being that the American public has no appetite for another 1983-style Beirut Marine barracks attack ― perpetrated by an obscure terrorist group called Islamic Jihad, which was nothing but a cover for an Iranian Revolutionary Guard cell.
All of this is to say that no matter what Putin’s long-term objectives may be in Syria (maintaining a friendly Shiite regime in power and his western Syrian military bases secured), Iran has more complex anti-American strategic objectives in Syria – centered on securing the Euphrates river valley by punishing the Americans out of Syria through bloody terrorist attacks not readily traceable to Iran.
American acquiescence in Tehran’s strategic goals in eastern and central Syria (as well as in the eastern Golan Heights region abutting Israel) will define – for better or for worse – the Trump Administration’s near-term Syrian strategy – no matter what happens to Assad.
Iran’s barely-concealed imperialist ambitions across the Middle East (instigating proxy wars in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Libya) are a major threat to Israel, as well. The eastern, Assad regime-controlled portion of the Heights has been the scene of escalating Israeli military strikes against Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces which sniff an opportunity to carve out a “zone of control” opposite Israeli forces.
Israel has warned it will not tolerate a new Hezbollah “eastern front.” That may be academic. Hezbollah now possesses enough missiles (100,000 according to open source intel) to represent an existential threat to Israel, and the more Iran wins in Syria, the more likely Hezbollah will be at war with Israel.
The great failure of the Obama Administration’s Iran policy was naively hypnotizing itself into believing that the Iran nuclear agreement would incubate a more moderate Iranian regional policy. That double-down is proving to be a sucker’s bet – as many analysts warned. Uber liberal Democratic foreign policy wonks, notably ineffectual wonk-in-chief John Kerry, are still whistling past the Middle East graveyard hoping against hope that Iran can be charmed into acting more responsibly. They remain mesmerized by their Iran nuclear agreement handiwork at the expense of acknowledging more must be done to contain Iran’s emboldened agenda.
The “new” Iran is the same old Iran, only worse.
The most effective counterweight against Iran is to turn the tables on the Ayatollah’s regime. A rapid deployment of Sunni Arab forces to stabilize eastern Syria and western Iraq is the best defense against this Iranian offense. That must be Job #1 for the Trump Administration… no ifs, ands or buts. It is one thing for Iran to plot a terror attack against an American base (Afghanistan is a reminder how easy that can be), it is another for Iranian Shiite militias to take on Sunni Arab forces fighting ISIS with American support.
The unfolding dire position the U.S. faces in Syria is one more strike against President Obama who foolishly took Iran regime change off the table – even when the hated Ahmadinejad was still in power. That pill is still hard to swallow.
The Trump Administration should not put it in neon lights, but setting a course to provide more support for internal dissent in Iran is the Achilles heel of the regime. It’s time to force the regime to mind the store, instead of mining our forces. This means working with domestic and international Iranian opposition groups (including the National Council of Resistance of Iran), without having to publicly affirm that deposing the terrorist-led regime is U.S.-declared policy. Discrediting the regime in the eyes of the Iranian public is essential.
Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei, his likely successor, and his Revolutionary Guards constitute a major strategic threat to world stability and to American security. Almost two years after the nuclear agreement, Iran remains the principal state sponsor of terror in the world.
We need to be as good at Syrian chess, or better, than the Iranians. But Tehran has a strategy, and, at least for now, the U.S. doesn’t. Syria’s fate is not nor should it be in our hands. Its killing fields should be an American “no boots zone” to the maximum extent possible. An effective American policy cannot be premised on those like Mr. Kerry and his “Diplomacy Works” amen choir of Iranian apologists who wring their hands fearing that provoking Iran could destroy their nuclear agreement handiwork.
Cold realism about Iran’s goals must trump those who place their heads in the sand hoping it is we who will see the light.

A New Iran Policy

Iranian Resistance Gathering in Paris [file photo

The Town Hall, June 30, 2017 - Five-plus months into the Trump administration, the outlines of a new foreign policy remain unclear. One of Donald Trump's frequent applause lines when he was a candidate was his promise to 'rip up' the Iranian nuclear agreement, which Trump and other critics claimed was one-sided because it lifted crippling economic sanctions yet allowed too much room for Iran to pursue development of nuclear weapons. In April, the Trump administration certified that Iran was narrowly living up to the agreement to halt the development of nuclear weapons, but the administration nonetheless slapped new sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile program and state-sponsored support for terrorism. This new approach might not be so aggressive as hard-line opponents of the Iranian nuclear deal hoped for, but it does deliver a needed shot across the bow to an Iranian regime that continues to threaten regional peace and suppress its people.
But what happens next? Iran continues to play an important and destructive role in Syria, backing the Assad regime in its murderous campaign against its own people. This week, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley warned in congressional testimony that Syria's apparent preparation for another chemical attack could have grave consequences. 'The goal is, at this point, not just to send Assad a message but to send Russia and Iran a message,' Haley said: 'If this happens again, we are putting you on notice.' She continued, 'My hope is that the president's warning will certainly get Russia and Iran to take a second look, and I hope that it will caution Assad.' But if the U.S. response were to be another limited attack on a Syrian airfield, that message would most likely be ignored.

If the U.S. wants to stop Iran from interfering in Syria and elsewhere in the region and put an end to its nuclear program -- not just a temporary halt -- the most effective means would be to recognize the democratic opposition to Iran's theocratic regime flourishing both inside Iran and among the Iranian diaspora around the world. On July 1, tens of thousands of Iranians will gather in Paris to promote 'Free Iran.' As I have been for the past six years, I will be on hand to emcee the event, which gathers dignitaries from several European counties, the Middle East, Africa and the United States. This year, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, former Sen. Joe Lieberman and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, as well as retired U.S. military officials, will be among the Americans addressing the conference, which is sponsored by the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran and the National Council of Resistance of Iran, whose leader is Maryam Rajavi .
What makes this year's gathering different from those of previous years is recent support for Rajavi's group on visible display within Iran. During the Iranian elections in May, posters of Rajavi appeared on overpasses and on walls in Tehran, Tabriz and other major cities, along with PMOI pleas to vote against the two major candidates -- Ebrahim Raisi, the mullahs' favorite, and the incumbent, Hassan Rouhani . Although media often describe Rouhani as a moderate, he is anything but; his government has actually increased the number of executions and cracked down hard on dissent within the country. But elections in Iran are a sham; all candidates must be approved by the Guardian Council to appear on the ballot, and almost all are rejected. Only with free and fair elections will the Iranian people finally have a chance to determine their future. 
In the past year, more than 7,000 demonstrations against the regime have taken place, a number not seen since the Green Movement in 2009. That year, the new Obama administration turned a deaf ear toward Iranians hankering for democracy. If the Trump administration is serious about reversing the Obama administration's Iran policy, it could begin by embracing those Iranian dissidents who offer a different future for their fellow countrymen.

Jury finds that NYC skyscraper owner violated Iran sanctions

This file photo shows 650 Fifth Avenue, a New York City skyscraper that houses the headquarters of the Alavi Foundation.  

NEW YORK (AP) June 30, 2017 — The U.S. government said it’s ready to seize a Manhattan skyscraper from an Iranian-American charity to benefit victims of terrorism after a jury found Thursday that the charity’s majority ownership was derived from financial dealings that violated sanctions against Iran.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said the owners of the office tower near Rockefeller Center “gave the Iranian government a critical foothold in the very heart of Manhattan through which Iran successfully circumvented U.S. economic sanctions.”
“For over a decade, hiding in plain sight, this 36-story Manhattan office tower secretly served as a front for the Iranian government and as a gateway for millions of dollars to be funneled to Iran in clear violation of U.S. sanctions laws,” Kim said in a statement. “In this trial, 650 Fifth Avenue’s secret was laid bare for all to see, and today’s jury verdict affirms what we have been alleging since 2008.”
The verdict in the civil case was sure to be appealed. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had earlier ordered the case to go to trial after U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest ruled in favor of the United States.
Over the last month, lawyers for the Alavi Foundation argued that the charity was unaware if Iran was secretly benefiting from a partner who owned 40 percent of the building. The Alavi Foundation owns 60 percent.
Kim said the building was worth at least a half billion dollars, though some estimates put its worth closer to a billion dollars.
Kim said the sale of the building, combined with several other properties around the country, would represent the largest terrorism-related civil forfeiture in U.S. history.
The prosecutor said the verdict “allows for substantial recovery for victims of Iran-sponsored terrorism.”
The government is seeking to turn over proceeds of a sale to holders of over $5 billion in terrorism-related judgments against the government of Iran, including claims brought by the estates of victims killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Forrest aided that effort Thursday by issuing a written opinion finding the Alavi Foundation liable for the turnover of its real estate properties to the benefit of its creditors, including terrorism victims.
“We are gratified to win this victory for the victims of Iran-sponsored terrorism, some of whom have waited more than two decades for this day,” attorney James Bernard said in a statement.
In another statement, Alavi Foundation attorney John Gleeson said: “The Alavi Foundation is disappointed by today’s verdict and by the court’s decision in the related cases and is considering its options.”
It was unclear what effect the verdict will have on the Alavi Foundation, which supports a Queens school among other charity works.
The verdict seemed to spare a Catharpin, Virginia, property after jurors concluded its funds did not violate sanctions and were not used in money laundering activities. The government said the verdict should allow it to seize properties in Houston; Carmichael, California; and Rockville, Maryland.
The Fifth Avenue building was erected in the 1970s on property acquired by the not-for-profit corporation. It was valued at $83 million in 1989 and has steadily risen in value.
Government lawyers said Iran has secretly controlled the building for years as millions of dollars in rent payments are funneled to it from a partnership made up of Alavi and a shell company fronting for a secret interest held by the state-owned bank of Iran, Bank Melli.

Iran accuses US of ‘brazen’ plan to change its government

Tillerson advocates a regime change in Iran

UNITED NATIONS, Washington Post, June 28, 2017 — Iran is accusing U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of “a brazen interventionist plan” to change the current government that violates international law and the U.N. Charter.
Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo said in a letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres circulated Tuesday that Tillerson’s comments are also “a flagrant violation” of the 1981 Algiers Accords in which the United States pledged “not to intervene, directly or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran’s internal affairs.”
Tillerson said at a June 14 House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the State Department budget that U.S. policy is to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons “and work towards support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government.”

Photo evicence of destruction of 1988 massacre evidence by Iran regime

Aerial photo shows that the graves of martyrs have been vandalized and purred concrete over

During the past few days the mullahs’ regime in the city of Tabriz, northwest Iran, has begun a campaign of vandalizing graves of members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) executed back in the 1980s, especially those massacred during the summer of 1988. These now destroyed graves were in the Rahmat Valley Cemetery. To this point the graves of 75 martyrs, including Akbar Choopani and Soraya Abolfat’hi, who was executed while pregnant, have been vandalized.

Iranian intelligence has supervised measures placing 10 centimeters of cement and leveling the grounds in the cemetery to destroy all evidence of such a martyrs’ cemetery. They have also placed a sign reading, “Leveling the children’s block” and installed a number of gravestones in the area where the cement has been poured, to prevent any sign of the gravesite destruction. Attached images provide signs of the machinery used, the vandalized gravestone, and various phases of cement pouring and the placing of new gravestones.

Last month in Mashhad, northeast Iran, mass graves of PMOI/MEK martyrs in the Beheshte Reza cemetery were also vandalized.

In the city of Ahvaz, southwest Iran, city authorities have been widening a road near a cemetery in order to vandalize martyrs’ graves. Signs of tumbled bodies in a mass grave previously covered with cement were seen as the digging began in the area of phase 2 of Padadshahr and the Bankdar Boulevard in this city. Authorities quickly covered the mass grave with dirt and continued to widen the road.

The Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights organizations, especially the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Situation in Iran to condemn this inhumane act and take urgent action to prevent the destruction of such evidence of previous mass executions and massacre of political prisoners, especially those of 1988. Iran’s ruling dictators must face justice for their crimes against humanity and 120,000 political executions.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran June 27, 2017

US official vows Russia & Iran ‘are responsible’ if Assad launches chemical weapons attack

US ambassador Nikki Haley says Russia and Iran will also be blamed for the chemical weapons attack

EXPRESS, Jun 27, 2017 - THE US  ambassador to the United Nations has declared that any chemical weapons attack by Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian government on his own citizens will also be blamed on the Russia and Iran.

Nikki Haley said on Twitter: 'Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia and Iran who support him killing his own people.'
Her comments came as the White House revealed it had identified potential preparations by Assad’s regime for another chemical weapons attack on its people.
The US military believes the preparations are similar to those made before the April 4 chemical weapons attack in Syria – a claim Assad’s government has repeatedly denied.
The attack – which killed at least 87 people, including 30 children – escalated tensions between Washington and Russia, which has advisers in Syria aiding its close ally Assad.

Horrific images depict sickening chemical gas attack in Syria

On Tue, April 4, 2017 at least 58 people, including nine children, were killed in an air raid that released 'toxic gas' on the rebel-held Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun

A child receiving treatment at a field hospital after an alleged chemical attack in Idlib, northen Syria

The White House statement said: “The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including children.
“As we have previously stated, the United States is in Syria to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS].
“If, however, Mr Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.”

Trump ordered a massive military strike against a Syria

Donald Trump blamed Assad for the chemical weapons attack which killed at least 87 people, including 30 children, in the Syria’s northern Idlib province in April.
And in retaliation, the American President launched 59 Tomahawk missiles on a Syrian air base – which according to the US Department of Defence destroyed 20 per cent of the nation’s operational aircraft. 
It follows comments by Brigadier-General Zaher al-Sakat – who served as head of chemical warfare in Syria’s powerful 5th Division until he defected in 2013 – that Assad has hidden hundreds of tonnes of the nation's chemical arsenal despite the leader saying he had given over their entire supply to the United Nations.
In 2014, Syria was believed to have handed its entire chemical arsenal to the UN’s Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) after they were criticized for its involvement in sarin gas attack that killed hundreds of people in September 2013.
But according to the former Assad general, the Syrian leader failed to declare large amounts of sarin precursor chemicals and other toxic materials.
Gen. Sakat told the Telegraph: “They [the regime] admitted only to 1,300 tonnes, but we knew in reality they had nearly double that. They had at least 2,000 tonnes. At least.”

France’s Macron invites Trump to Bastille Day festivities

French President Emmanuel Macronn and US President Donald Trump

French President Emmanuel Macron invited his US counterpart Donald Trump on Tuesday to attend the country's traditional Bastille Day military parade, despite public differences over the Paris Agreement on climate change.

FRANCE 24 with AFP, 27 June 2017 - Macron invited Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to attend the parade that is held in the French capital every year on July 14. The French president’s office said the US leader promised to examine the invitation.

This year, the event will mark 'the 100th anniversary of the US joining the war with French troops in World War I,' an official in Macron's office said.

On July 14 last year, a radicalised Tunisian man killed 86 people as he rammed a truck through a crowd watching Bastille Day fireworks in the French Riviera city of Nice.

A Trump trip to Paris would follow a visit to France by Vladimir Putin in May when Macron hosted the Russian leader at Versailles palace.

The 39-year-old Macron made his mark on the international stage when he gave Trump a white-knuckle handshake at a NATO summit on May 25.

He later mocked Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the 2015 Paris Agreement to combat climate change.

Macron's English-language appeal to 'make our planet great again' -- a riff on Trump's own slogan of making America great again -- became a social media hit.

Chemical ‘threat’

Macron and Trump also agreed on Tuesday on the need for a 'joint response' in the event of another chemical attack in Syria.

They decided on the matter during a telephone call, a day after Washington said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may be preparing another chemical weapons attack.

The US warned that Assad’s government would pay a 'heavy price' if it went ahead with such an assault.

A Pentagon spokesman said US intelligence had noticed suspect activity at the launch site of the regime's apparent chemical strike in April.

Days after that strike on a rebel-held town, the US launched a cruise missile strike on the airfield in retaliation -- the first direct US attack on the Syrian regime.

The French foreign ministry refused to say Tuesday whether it, too, had information about possible preparations by the Syrian regime for a chemical attack.

ANALYSIS: Is Iran plunging the Middle East into another war?

An Iranian soldier stands guard during a ceremony marking the 37th anniversary of the Revolution, in Tehran, February 11, 2016. (Reuters)

The days of ISIS are numbered and voices are heard about the entire region being forced into a far more disastrous conflict. Various parties, mainly the US and Iran, have begun jostling, seeking to inject their influence onto what the future holds for Syria.

As Iran has also wreaked havoc in Iraq and Yemen, concerns are rallying on Tehran going the distance to pull the US full-scale into the Syria inferno. Such a mentality results from misunderstanding the nature of what is known as the Iranian regime.

Escalating tensions

After establishing a foothold in the strategic town of al-Tanf near the Iraq-Jordan-Syria border, US forces designated a buffer zone to provide protection for their own troops and resources, alongside their allies of anti-Assad opposition rebels.

1) On three different incidents Iran-backed militias have made advances into the buffer zone, only to receive warnings and eventually be attacked by US warplanes.

2) Raising the stakes, on two occasions Iran-made pro-Assad drones have been downed by US-led coalition forces.

3) And maybe the ultimate incident came when a US F/A-18 fighter jet shot down a Syrian Sukho-22 warplane after the latter dropped bombs on US-backed Kurdish forces north of Raqqa, the self-declared capital of ISIS.

An Iranian soldier stands guard in front of the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Behesht Zahra cemetery, south of Tehran February 1, 2016. (Reuters)

Tehran’s habit

Understanding its conventional and non-conventional forces stand no match against the classical armies of the US and the unity of its Arab allies, Iran has for the past 38 years resorted to tactics of its own.

Terrorist attacks across the region through proxy groups such as the Lebanese Hezbollah have proven successful. The 1982 Beirut bombings of US and French barracks led to the American pullout of this highly fragile country. As a result, Tehran has used this method ever since to send its message. Following the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran yet again resorted to paramilitary and proxy methods to advance its interests in the region.

Seeing no strong response only emboldens Iran in its pursuit of wreaking havoc. Witnessing the disastrous and premature withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, and Obama’s refusal to live up to his own red line after Assad resorted to the extreme low of gassing his own people in 2013, Iran came to a conclusion such actions will continue unabated.

The language of force

There have been cases otherwise, however, including Operation Praying Mantis on April 18th, 1988 when the US Navy launched a campaign against Tehran’s naval fleet in retaliation for the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf during the Iran–Iraq war and the subsequent damage to an American warship.

The attack came as a major wake-up call for Iran as the mullahs in Tehran only understand the language of force. The 59 cruise missiles the US used to target the Syrian regime airfield used to launch a chemical attack on Homs earlier this year also rose eyebrows not only in Damascus, Moscow and Tehran, but the world over.

The recent incidents in Syria are further serious signals for Iran that such belligerence no longer will go tolerated, especially considering a new US administration in Washington adopting a far different perspective and strategy than its predecessor.

Iranian air force’s US-made F-4 Phantom fighter jets perform during a parade on the occasion of the country’s Army Day, on April 18, 2017, in Tehran. (AFP)

Solution

What needs grave understanding is the fact that Iran is the last party that seeks a full blown war in Syria, Yemen or any other region of the Middle East. The Iranian regime is seeking a win-win solution, enjoying an open hand in meddling across the region to such extent to prevent any major international community retaliatory action.

Has Iran been successful? To this day, mostly it has, unfortunately, thanks to the West’s highly flawed belief in adopting a policy of engagement with Iran to tame the mullahs and enjoy short-term economic gains.

The tides, however, are changing for the better. Iran’s Achilles Heel must be the main target as seen in the recent US Senate resolution imposing sanctions on the regime’s ballistic missile program, support of terrorism and human rights violations.

Tehran may kick, scream and threaten to abandon the Iran nuclear deal in retaliation. Yet rest assured the mullahs will not make such a grave mistake, triggering the automatic re-imposition of sanctions under six previous United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards lies at the heart of the mullahs’ illicit activities both inside the country and abroad. This entity also controls around 40 percent of the country’s already fragile and highly corrupt economy.

To this end, there is no need for another war in the region. Iran knows better that such an outcome would only accelerate developments against its interests. The US and Arab world can and should lead the international community by designating the Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organization.

This will be a complementary measure to the abovementioned Senate resolution, and bring Tehran to its knees. Such an initiative will place the international community alongside the Iranian people in their struggle against the ruling mullahs’ regime.

This is especially true after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson referred to Washington’s support for domestic forces seeking peaceful regime change in Iran.

Last Update: Monday, 26 June 2017 KSA 12:47 - GMT 09:47

Opposition: Iranian regime the only party profiting from attacking Mecca

Saudi Arabia arrested five members of a cell that was planning an attack on the Grand Mosque area in Mecca

Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Monday, 26 June 2017 - An Iranian opposition group has strongly condemned the terrorist plan against the Grand Mosque area in Mecca.
“Those who are behind these inhuman and non-Islamic plans and who carry them out are the worst enemies of Islam and Muslims. The spirit of Islam and humanity are innocent of them,” the National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ) said in a statement on their website.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran is the main opposition to the Islamic Republic and is based in France.
“The only party to profit from this shameful scheme that is repulsive to all Muslims in the world is the ruling religious fascist regime in Iran, which wants to drive the entire region into a quagmire of wars and crises,” the opposition group added.
Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry said on Friday that it arrested five members of a cell that was planning an attack on the Grand Mosque area in Mecca. Security forces said the operation was planned by three terrorist groups, two based in Mecca and the third in Jeddah.