The prospects for war in Iran have dramatically increased, and as forecast, the U.S. has long put in place a strategic apparatus to strike hard and fast, and now openly threatening military action.
And as war drums beat louder, in America there is virtually no major anti-war opposition coming from Congress, the people, the media and from the majority of the contestants running in the Presidential Reality Show®.
Absent across the spectrum are demands for hard facts and indisputable data to support U.S. accusations that Iran is threatening American interests and destabilizing the Middle East.
As we have made clear in one of our Top Trends for 2018 forecasts, “Market Shock, Mass Murder,” the “battle lines have been drawn. In Washington, there is absolute support for Israel and absolute hatred for Iran. Should these trend lines continue on their current path, we forecast war will ignite throughout the Middle-East… and possibly worldwide.”
And we also noted that the U.S. has branded Iran and Hezbollah as a common enemy while forming an unprecedented alliance with Saudi Arabia and Israel, “giving them license, at the slightest provocation, false flag or real, to strike at will against Iran and/or Lebanon.”
Since that forecast the United States has also designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group, thus giving them license to target at will.
RAPID ESCALATION
It has been recently reported that the Pentagon has plans to send some 120,000 troops to the Middle East, and announced that B-52’s have carried out their “first mission…to defend American forces and interests in the region.” And if war does break out, President Trump declared he’d send “a hell of a lot more” U.S. troops.
The Trump administration also ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the Persian Gulf to counter alleged threats from Iran. Without providing evidence, National Security Advisor John Bolton claimed Iran has made “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings.”
It should be noted that Bolton has clearly specified U.S. motives for ratcheting up tensions with Iran: “The declared policy of the United States should be the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime in Tehran.”
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said, without providing a shred of evidence, that there were “indications and warnings,” including actions by the Lebanese Hezbollah, that threatened American interests. When asked to substantiate his claim with hard evidence, pompous Pompeo arrogantly responded, “I don’t want to talk about what underlays it…I don’t want to go into the details.”
This overt escalation of a military war comes as the U.S. has waged economic warfare with crippling sanctions against Iran, which has plunged deep into recession. Also, as a result of U.S sanctions, nations that attempt to do business with Iran will lose access to American markets.
GULF OF TONKIN, 2.0
Further escalating tensions, in mid-May, after two Saudi Arabian oil tankers and two other vessels were sabotaged/damaged off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, again without providing proof, U.S. officials claimed “Iran was likely behind the attack.”
Just two days before the alleged attack, Pompeo said, “The regime in Tehran should understand that any attacks by them or their proxies of any identity against U.S. interests or citizens will be answered with a swift and decisive U.S. response.”
And following the attack and asked about rising tensions with Iran, President Trump threatened: “If they do anything, they will suffer greatly. We’ll see what happens with Iran … it’s going to be a bad problem for Iran.”
A few days later, Trump tweeted: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran.” Never threaten the United States again.
STEP-BY-STEP MARCH TO WAR
Tensions and the prospects for war against Iran crystallized last May when President Trump unilaterally (and which many nations considered illegal) abrogated the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities and permit nuclear international inspectors in return for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions.
Labeling Iran “the world’s leading sponsor of state terror,” Trump further vowed to impose the strongest “sanctions in history” against Iran, a threat he’s followed through on.
Members of the JCPOA, including China, France, Germany, Russia, Canada and the U.K. opposed Washington’s decision, but the European nations succumbed to the pressure and are cutting trade and business ties with Iran over fears of losing business with America.
Moreover, as we reported in the Trends Journal, this past September Bolton requested the Pentagon draw up plans for a “strike” against Iran. Shortly following his request, it was reported that three mortars were fired into Baghdad’s diplomatic quarter which hosts the U.S. Embassy, and the shells landed in an open lot and no one was harmed. Without evidence, Iran was blamed.
And in mid-May, the U.S. partially evacuated personnel from its Baghdad Embassy in Iraq, stating, again without providing evidence, that it was a “threat linked to Iran” that sparked the move.
Then, several days later, a rocket landed in the Green Zone in Baghdad, not far from the U.S. Embassy. There was no damage and no one was hurt, but again, without providing evidence, as propagandized by The New York Times headline, Iran was implicated in the attack: “Rocket Hits Green Zone in Baghdad as Tensions Flare Between U.S.”
In January, during a trip to Israel, Bolton suggested that President Trump was willing to strike Iran if he thought Tehran was close to developing a nuclear weapon.
It has since been reported that Iran has quadrupled its uranium enrichment. Responding to the enrichment report, President Trump said, “I don’t want to fight. But you have situations like Iran, you can’t let them have them have nuclear weapons, you just can’t let it happen.” TJ
TRENDPOST On the economic front, we forecast that war with Iran will drive Brent Crude oil sharply above $100 a barrel, which in turn will crash equity markets and economies across the globe. It should be noted that since 1970, sharp spikes in oil prices preceded every major meltdown in the world economy.
And gold, the ultimate safe-haven asset, which has been flat-lined around $1,300, has the potential to spike above $2,000 an ounce or more.
On the human scale, war with Iran will spark the onset of World War III with the potential for massive nuclear annihilation.