Trump threatens Iran with further terrorist attacks

By Ian Greenhalgh on June 8, 2017

[Editor’s note: Let’s be clear about a couple of things here, firstly, Iran is in no way a sponsor or promoter of terrorism, secondly, Trump’s ‘warning’ was a direct threat to the Iranians, issued on behalf of his Saudi paymasters.

The terror attacks in Tehran last week were claimed by Islamic State, but the truth is, they were false flags carried out by foreign infiltrators under the direction of Iran’s enemies and financed by the Saudis and their Gulf state allies. Trump is well aware of this and by ‘warning’ of further attacks, he is really issuing a threat to Iran that these attacks will continue.

The recent Arab summit in Saudi Arabia that Trump attended clearly had the formation of an anti-Iran coalition as one of it’s key objectives. The subsequent isolation of Qatar by the other Arab states is a clear indicator that Qatar refused to join this coalition as it simply does not see Iran as an enemy and prefers to maintain good relations with it’s neighbour. Recently Qatar and Iran have signed co-operation agreements relating to the exploitation of oil and gas deposits and have generally improved their relations in recent months.

So while Qatar is not going to be a part of it, it is clear that the anti-Iran coalition is going to attack Iran and they have chosen to use the same ‘Islamic State’ terrorism they unleashed on Syria and Iraq as their weapon.

There are two good reasons for choosing this approach; firstly, the Saudi and alliedGulf armies are of very limited combat effectiveness – we have seen them humiliated by the Houthi tribesmen in Yemen, therefore the idea of them taking on the large and capable Iranian military is  non-starter. Secondly, using Islamic State terrorism fits with their ‘Iran is the main sponsor of terrorism’ narrative which exists to deflect the blame from the real sponsors of terrorism – the Saudis, the lesser Gulf states and their Israeli and American allies. Ian]

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Al-Arabiya
Trump to Iran: States backing terror risk ‘falling victim’ themselves

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday expressed sympathy for the victims of a terror attack in Iran that killed 13 people, but issued a barbed warning that the country was reaping what it sowed.

Gunmen and suicide bombers, acting almost simultaneously, attacked Iran’s parliament and a shrine to the revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

“We grieve and pray for the innocent victims of the terrorist attacks in Iran, and for the Iranian people, who are going through such challenging times,” Trump said in a brief statement. “We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote.”

Earlier, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that “the depravity of terrorism has no place in a peaceful, civilized world.” “We express our condolences to the victims and their families, and send our thoughts and prayers to the people of Iran,” she added.

Campaign rhetoric

Trump has long accused Iran of backing terrorism. During last year’s presidential campaign, he suggested that one of his top priorities was to dismantle the “disastrous” 2015 deal aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

As president, he has maintained his criticism of Iran – during a visit to Israel last month Trump said Tehran now feels “emboldened” by the nuclear accord – but has not tampered with the agreement.

Even as Washington expressed its condolences over the terror strike, the US Senate advanced legislation Wednesday that would impose new sanctions on Iran, partly for what the bill described as the Iranian regime’s “support for acts of international terrorism.”

Procedural hurdle

Lawmakers voted 92 to 7 to clear a procedural hurdle, setting up a later vote on final passage. But Republicans and Democrats alike said they are eager to add an amendment that would slap fresh sanctions on Russia in response to US intelligence conclusions that the Kremlin conducted or approved cyberattacks on US targets in an effort to sway the presidential election.

“In the last eight months, what price has Russia paid for attacking American democracy? Hardly any at all,” Republican Senator John McCain said. “We need a strong Russia sanctions amendment. We need it now.”

Senate Democrat Dianne Feinstein said it was “the wrong time” to pass fresh sanctions on Iran.
“The country has just suffered from two significant terrorist attacks after electing a moderate government with 57 percent of the vote,” she said. “We need to give Iran the opportunity to recover and set a new course.”

Zarif calls it repugnant

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday that US President Donald Trump’s reaction to the deadly group attacks in Tehran was “repugnant”.

“Repugnant WH (White House) statement… as Iranians counter terror backed by US clients,” Zarif tweeted. He was responding to Trump’s comment that “states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote”.

Source: veteranstoday