Posted on 09/15/2020 3:30:10 AM PDT by rickmichaels
President Donald Trump on Monday vowed that any attack by Iran would be met with a response '1,000 times greater in magnitude,' after reports that Iran planned to avenge the killing of top general Qasem Soleimani.
A US media report, quoting unnamed officials, said that an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the US ambassador to South Africa was planned before the presidential election in November.
'According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader Soleimani,' Trump tweeted.
'Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!'
Iran warned the US not to make a 'strategic error' on Tuesday following the president's remarks.
'We hope that they do not make a new strategic mistake and certainly in the case of any strategic mistake, they will witness Iran's decisive response,' government spokesman Ali Rabiei said.
The alleged plot to attack the US has been detailed in intelligence papers which have been seen by US intelligence and government officials.
American officials said they had been made aware of threats towards ambassador, Lana Marks, 66, since the spring but the intelligence detail has suddenly become more specific in recent weeks.
The Iranian embassy in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, is said to be involved in the plot according to Politico.
In January, a US drone strike killed Soleimani in Baghdad. At the time, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US killed Soleimani to re-establish a deterrent against Iran.
Soleimani led the Quds Force, a unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that oversees much of the country's military activities outside its borders.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Regards,
Why would the Iranians want to assassinate our ambassador to SA? Does anybody care about SA? Nobody would give a hoot.
A “decisive response,” huh?
We gotch’yer decisive response right here...
(not quite sure how to spell “gotchyer?” Oh well, mull that one over, Iran. That should keep you busy for a while. LOL!
That’s kind of a good question. I had no idea this was a problem before reading this.
gmta. Why?
“Why would the Iranians want to assassinate our ambassador to SA? Does anybody care about SA? Nobody would give a hoot.”
Trump nominated Linda Marks and she has been in office since January. My guess is they selected her for perceived personal connections to Trump. Also, it’s possible they have sufficient state controlled assets in place in SA to carry off an assassination. Any other country would be a hassle. In SA all they have to do is add it to the agenda.
I suspect the plan would be to have a proxy do it so they could claim both credit and that they didn’t do it directly. I don’t think their reasoning would stop Trump from working over some targets deep in Iran. It’s an election year and it would be a gift to him if he had a legitimate reason to bomb the Hell out of some oil refineries and storage tanks.
The key word is “Ambassador”.The murder of *any* of our top diplomats would create headlines worldwide...perhaps they figure that it would be easier in SA for whatever reason.
Some red line, eh Buddy?
Soft target perhaps. Might be easier to pull off in SA than other places.
Having been to South Africa in the past two years, I would offer this observation.
First, there are literally thousands of young unemployed men, and hundreds of ‘gangs’ in the country where you could hire up thirty guys to conduct some raid of a party or shopping center where the ambassador conducts her business. Waving a million dollars at a 30-member gang would not be that difficult.
Second, the police in SA are probably among the most inept that you might ever run across.
Third, there are dozens of ghetto districts that the gang can retreat into, and disappear.
Fourth, even if a threat exists...I don’t think the government of SA would do anything to lessen the threat or send a message to Iran. Things are so screwed up....that they literally wouldn’t care.
The way nations like the US and Russia send believable threats is to crank up the logistics necessary for military action. Obama famously drew lines in the rhetorical sand but didn’t move a single bullet into useful range, so he was never taken seriously. When North Korea performed the obligatory challenge to a new president, Nixon, by shooting some soldiers across the DMZ, he moved millions of dollars worth of logistics and announced he was going to blast them back to the stone age. The North quickly executed some luckless soldiers and apologized. There were no more problems while Nixon was in office. That’s how it’s done and Trump knows the trick.
South Africa is a crime ridden hellhole.
“Why would the Iranians want to assassinate our ambassador to SA? Does anybody care about SA? Nobody would give a hoot.”
I’d assume logistics, and chance of success. They’ll go after the easiest target, and apparently they’ve seen something that suggests the ambassador fits the bill.
The Democrats will say that Trump is just trying to create a diversion from his “failed” China Virus response.
UK, France and Germany agree to reject US demand for Iran snapback sanctions
I wasn’t convinced this was factual a couple days ago but now I am.
I wasn’t convinced this was factual a couple days ago but now I am.
Trump has developed a reputation world wide, that he doesn’t screw around.
Therefore, I think “he” purposely leaks the Iran plan to kill our ambassador in S. Africa so he can tell Iran that if they do, he will retaliate 1000 times over.
You hear crickets from the world. Why? Because they all know and fear that he will unleash all hell if they do this.
And they could be next.
Why is this important?
Because China will think twice before they invade Taiwan, or N. Kor will think twice before attack the Souyh etc etc.
All of a sudden the world is a safer place because of one man.
Trump.
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