“I don’t understand the president. He dealt from desperation, and he shouldn’t have been desperate. First of all, we’re giving them billions of dollars in this deal, which we shouldn’t have given them. We should have kept the money. Second of all, we have four prisoners over there. We should have said ‘Let the prisoners out. They shouldn’t be over there.’”
“You know the Iranians are going to cheat. They’re great negotiators and you know they’re going to cheat.” – Donald J. Trump, 7/14/15
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that
The U.S. airstrikes on Syria stoked new tensions with Iran and generated calls in Tehran for increased military support for President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Iranian officials said on Friday the U.S. attack violated international law and accused President Donald Trump of siding with Islamic State and al Qaeda in Syria.
“Not even two decades after 9/11, [the] U.S. military is fighting on same side as al-Qaeda & ISIS in Yemen & Syria,” Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted on Friday. “Time to stop hype and coverups.”
But Mr. Trump and his advisers have already taken steps in recent months to try to roll back Iranian influence in the Middle East, despite the landmark nuclear agreement forged between Tehran and global powers in 2015.
Many Middle East analysts said Iran could seek to mobilize even more military support for Mr. Assad in coming months. This is in addition to the thousands of Shiite fighters it has already deployed in Syria since civil war broke out in the country in 2011.
Syria serves as Iran’s closest regional ally and the land bridge for Iranian supplies going to Lebanese and Palestinian militias at war with Israel.
“The key question now is, what’s the Iranian response to the attack? Do they double down,” said Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Iranian experts said the government has no choice, given the billions of dollars it has already invested in Mr. Assad over the past six years.
“Iran and Russia have paid a high cost in Syria, both financially and in human life, and Iran has lost even more than Russia,” said Foad Izadi, a professor at Tehran University. “Therefore, Iran will not sit back indifferent.”
Mr. Trump, a Republican, campaigned last year against former President Barack Obama’s diplomatic outreach to Iran and the nuclear deal, which constrained Tehran’s capabilities but also released billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets.
Since taking office, Mr. Trump has signaled he will abide by the agreement. But he has also taken steps to try to constrain Tehran’s military capabilities and presence across the Mideast.
Mr. Trump’s administration has sanctioned dozens of Iranian companies since January for allegedly aiding Tehran’s development of ballistic missiles. And it has also increased support for a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia that is fighting an Iranian-backed militia in Yemen.
Military analysts said Mr. Assad may have deployed chemical weapons on Tuesday because his troops have been stretched thin by the civil war.
Iran has mobilized as many as 10,000 militiamen from Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan in a largely successful military effort to buttress Mr. Assad’s defenses.
But U.S. and Arab officials believe the Syrian government has inadequate forces to hold territory it has reclaimed in recent months from rebel militias.
U.S. officials have said in recent days that they believe Thursday’s airstrikes will renew pressure on Damascus and potentially serve as a warning that Mr. Trump’s administration won’t tolerate future chemical weapons attacks. Shutting down chemical attacks, they argue, will force Iran and Russia to either pour more resources into Syria or to engage in a diplomatic process to end the Syrian civil war.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is scheduled to visit Moscow next week for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. The Syrian conflict is expected to top their agenda.
On February 10th, Yahoo News reported that
ANKARA (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of Iranians rallied on Friday to swear allegiance to the clerical establishment following U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning that he had put the Islamic Republic “on notice”, state TV reported.
On the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, which toppled the U.S.-backed shah, marchers including hundreds of military personnel and policemen headed towards Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square.
They carried “Death to America” banners and effigies of Trump, while a military police band played traditional Iranian revolutionary songs.
State TV showed footage of people stepping on Trump’s picture in a central Tehran street. Marchers carried the Iranian flag and banners saying: “Thanks Mr. Trump for showing the real face of America.”
“America and Trump cannot do a damn thing. We are ready to sacrifice our lives for our leader”, a young Iranian man told state TV in a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Last week, Trump put Iran “on notice” in reaction to a Jan. 29 Iranian missile test and imposed fresh sanctions on individuals and entities. Iran said it will not halt its missile program.
Iranian leading religious and political figures, including Pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani had called on Iranians to join the rally on Friday to “show their unbreakable ties with the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republic”.
In a speech marking the revolution’s anniversary, Rouhani urged Iran’s faction-ridden elite to seek unity amid increased tensions with the United States.
“Some inexperienced figures in the region and America are threatening Iran … They should know that the language of threats has never worked with Iran,” Rouhani told the crowd at Azadi Square.
“Our nation is vigilant and will make those threatening Iran regret it … They should learn to respect Iran and Iranians … We will strongly confront any war-mongering policies.”
The 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, certainly left our Sovereign Nation in a precarious position.
Obama purposely and surreptitiously handed a Rogue State of Radical Muslim Barbarians the means of the destruction of both the United States of America and our staunch ally, Israel.
What made the Former President of these United States, Barack Hussein Obama, trust Iran, an enemy of freedom, to stand by its “Agreement” to refrain from nuking the United States of America and Israel?
With no assurances or ways to keep them in check, Obama gave them everything they wanted: their money, nuclear capability, and acquiescence by the Government of the United States of America.
Just look at the way that Iran, the world’s largest State Sponsor of Radical Islamic Terrorism has behaved since Obama’s “Nuclear Agreement”.
Here’s a question for you:
What if a condition of the Iran Prisoner Swap Agreement and the closure of the “Iran Deal” was that we humble ourselves by allowing our Navy Personnel to be captured and used as propaganda?
Iran remains our mortal enemy, who wants every single American Infidel beheaded, and, who, to this day, refers to this sacred land as “The Great Satan”.
It is well known, that a young Obama, after his mother wed a quite well-off fellow from Indonesia, attended a Madrassa, or Muslim School, in Jakarta.
I believe that the time he spent among “the religion of peace” in his youth, and the 20 years he spent under the “Reformed Muslim” (Liberation Theology) teachings of “ex”-American Muslim, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, molded and cemented his attitude toward Muslims.
Obama innately trusted Muslims…even radical ones.
Obama, Kerry, and the rest of his Liberal Dhimmi Cabal showed where their loyalties unequivocally lied, with their braggadocio over this Chamberlain-esque “deal” that, from the start, was destined to not only blow up in their faces, but also “where alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears” and in the heart of the Holy Land, itself.
Obama’s concern was never with our allies nor the safety of the citizens and the military of the United States of America.
Obama, as he always has been, was concerned with himself and leaving a marvelous legacy as president.
Giving Iran the means to “kill the infidels” definitely cemented Obama’s Legacy as an incompetent buffoon…if there is anyone left to remember it.
Iran has always been, since the ouster of the Shah, a rogue nation. They are a threat to every nation who stands in the way of their crazed Political Ideology, disguised as a “religion”.
Are you old enough to remember the Iranian Hostage Crisis? If not, here is a summary, courtesy of u-s-history.com:
On November 4, 1979, an angry mob of some 300 to 500 “students” who called themselves “Imam’s Disciples,” laid siege to the American Embassy in Teheran, Iran, to capture and hold hostage 66 U.S. citizens and diplomats. Although women and African-Americans were released a short time later, 51 hostages remained imprisoned for 444 days with another individual released because of illness midway through the ordeal.
…Upon the death of the shah in July [1980] (which neutralized one demand) and the Iraqi invasion of Iran in September (necessitating weapons acquisition), Iran became more amenable to reopening negotiations for the hostages’ release.
In the late stages of the presidential race with Ronald Reagan, Carter, given those new parameters, might have been able to bargain with the Iranians, which might have clinched the election for him. The 11th-hour heroics were dubbed an “October Surprise”* by the Reagan camp — something they did not want to see happen.
Allegations surfaced that William Casey, director of the Reagan campaign, and some CIA operatives, secretly met with Iranian officials in Europe to arrange for the hostages’ release, but not until after the election. If true, some observers aver, dealing with a hostile foreign government to achieve a domestic administration’s defeat would have been grounds for charges of treason.
Reagan won the election, partly because of the failure of the Carter administration to bring the hostages home. Within minutes of Reagan’s inauguration, the hostages were released.
Boys and girls, this is the difference between Ronald Wilson Reagan, a Strong American President, and Petulant President Pantywaist, Barack Hussein Obama.
The Mad Mullahs of Iran are no doubt upset that they do not have a wuss of a President of the United States to kick around anymore.
Thank God, we have a strong American President again.
Until He Comes,
KJ
Kingsjester's Blog 