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ASSASSINATION OF TOP IRANIAN COLONEL RAISES TENSIONS WITH ISRAEL
Israel informed Washington that it was behind the brazen assassination of a top Iranian colonel earlier in May, according to a report.
The New York Times, citing a U.S. intelligence official briefed on the matter, reported that the Israelis informed Washington that Col. Sayad Khodayee was gunned down in front of his home in Tehran as a clear message to Iran to think twice about its continued operations of a covert group within the Quds Force known as Unit 840.
Iran’s secretive Unit 840 is known to carry out abductions and assassinations outside the country, which included Israeli civilians, the paper reported, citing military and intelligence officials. Khodayee, who was 50, was the deputy commander of the group, and played a major role in planning some of these “cross border plots.”
Khodayee was outside his home when two motorcyclists shot him five times. His killing was the most high-profile in Iran since the November 2020 assassination of top nuclear scientist Moshen Fakhrizadeh.
Israel killed Khodayee to send a message to Tehran to shelve the unit, the report said.
Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi called on his security forces to “follow up on this matter and I have no doubt that revenge for the pureblood of our martyr will be taken.”
Hossein Salami, the Revolutionary Guards commander, also said Iran’s response to “any threat or action will be harsh.”
“But we will determine when and how it will be and in what circumstances. We will definitely take revenge on our enemies,” he said.
Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the UN, penned a letter to the UN calling for the body to denounce the assassination based on “its responsibilities to genuinely fight terrorism and in a non-discriminatory manner,” IRNA reported.
There was anger in the Israeli military that a leak would go to the newspaper, The Times of Israel reported.
“As far as I know, we did not inform anyone or take responsibility, and that is for the best,” Ben Barak, who heads Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said.
TREND FORECAST: Yielding 291 billion cubic meters of gas last year, Iran is the world’s largest gas producer after Russia’s Gazprom.
Should war break out in the Middle East, oil prices will spike to above $150 per barrel which will spike inflation and crash equity markets and global economies. It will also be a spark that will further the flames of WWIII.
TRENDPOST: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday celebrated Jerusalem Day with a special cabinet meeting and discussed the threat of Iran. The Times of Israel reported that Bennett said Tehran’s days of terror-sponsoring “immunity” has come to an end.
“Whoever funds terrorists, whoever arms terrorists, whoever sends out terrorists, will pay the full price,” he said.
The Trends Journal has reported extensively on Israel’s shadow war with Tehran. (See “IRAN’S MISSILES STRIKE ‘RETALIATORY,’ HITS ISRAELI TARGET,” “SHOOTING BREAKS OUT IN ISRAEL: REVENGE OR TERRORISM?” and “ISRAEL RAMPS UP ATTACK PLAN ON IRAN.”)
The leak seems as though it could strain Israel’s relationship with Washington. Ynet reported that one of the issues is that the leak essentially proved that the U.S. was not involved in the killing.
Israel has taken a keen interest in Iran’s drone production and Khodayee was a logistics officer who played a key role in “transporting drone and missile technology to Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon and advised militias in Syria,” AntiWar’s Dave DeCamp reported.
IRAN SEIZES GREEK TANKERS AFTER ATHENS SEIZED IRANIAN TANKER AND ALLOWED THE U.S. TO CONFISCATE OIL
Iran was accused of piracy after seizing two Greek-flagged oil tankers in the Persian Gulf in an apparent act of retaliation of Greece seizing an Iranian tanker to allow the U.S. to confiscate the crude oil cargo.
Nour News, a media outlet tied to Tehran’s leadership, reported that the Islamic Republic “decided to take punitive measures against Greece after it seized an Iranian tanker and let the US government confiscate its crude oil.”
RT reported that the Iranian-flagged ship had been sanctioned by the U.S. on 22 February, just two days prior to the Ukraine invasion.
Reuters reported that the sanctions were aimed at Promsvyazbank, a bank viewed as critical to Russia’s defense sector. The tanker was in the Mediterranean Sea at the time of its seizure.
The Iranian-flagged Pegas had a crew of 19 Russians. The vessel was released but not before the U.S. confiscated the crude, Radio Free Europe reported.
The Greek tankers were seized on Friday by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. The Iranian forces used military helicopters to gain access to the ships.
Greece’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the “violent taking over of two Greek-flagged ships” effectively “amounts to acts of piracy.” Both Greek ships, the Prudent Warrior and the Delta Poseidon, were sailing from Iraq’s Basra oil terminal and were loaded with crude, the Associated Press reported, citing MarineTraffic.com.
“The main purpose is to send a clear message to the West that future seizures of oil tankers will be met with a response in kind,” Sina Azodi, an Iran analyst at the Atlantic Council in Washington, told The New York Times.
The Times, citing Iranian news outlets, reported that the Greek vessels, combined, can carry up to 1.8 million barrels of crude oil, which was in Iran’s possession.
An Iranian oil dealer told the Times that the crews are now staying at a guesthouse on shore and the ships are anchored off the shore. The crews have been replaced with Iranian crews and gunmen, the paper said.
TREND FORECAST: Iranians should know that the only country permitted to conduct piracy is the U.S. There was no trial, no conviction…the U.S. merely confiscated on allegations that the ship was in the wrong.
This is part of a troubling trend by the Biden administration to work outside the law in the name of justice for the Russian invasion. The Trends Journal reported in May that the Biden administration hopes to steal seized assets belonging to Russians to help fight the Ukraine War.
As Gerald Celente has said, “In the Bronx, they used to say, ‘Money talks, bullshit walks.’” The bottom line of the Greek/Iranian showdown is money, and until Iran gets its oil back that was confiscated by the U.S., these Greek tankers will continue to sit off the coast of Iran.
The Times, citing the Tasnim news agency, reported that Iran warned that there were 17 Greek-flagged tankers sailing in the Persian Gulf and they can be targeted if there is not a satisfactory resolution.
IRANIAN MILITARY FACILITY ATTACKED IN DRONE STRIKE, ISRAEL EYED
A top military development site for Iran suffered damage and one worker died Wednesday evening in a suicide-drone attack that resembled previous Israeli attacks.
The New York Times, citing three Iranians with knowledge of the attack and an unnamed U.S. official, reported that the strike targeted the Parchin military complex, which is about 37 miles southeast of Tehran. The paper reported that the site is known to develop military technology, including missiles, nuclear, and drone technology.
The drones believed to be used in the attack were quadcopter suicide drones that detonated after striking the building. These drones are not known to have good range, and it is believed that they were launched from inside Iran.
One engineer was killed and another was injured. Iran was vague about the attack at first, but referred to the engineer as a martyr, which indicates that Tehran is treating the incident as an attack.
Israel refused to comment on the strike and a U.S. official did not comment on who was behind the attack. Reports out of Israel suggest that the attack had some of the hallmarks of an Israeli strike.
Hossein Salami, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Iran will hold those responsible accountable and said the killing “will be responded to…Our enemy should wait.”
The Trends Journal has long reported on the shadow war underway between Israel and Iran. (See “ISRAEL HOLDS MILITARY EXERCISE TO STRIKE IRAN.” “IRAN’S MISSILES STRIKE ‘RETALIATORY,’ HITS ISRAELI TARGET” and “ISRAEL RAMPS UP ATTACK PLAN ON IRAN.”)
Israel has been increasing its aggression against Iran’s drone production because they could pose a significant security risk for Tel Aviv. Iranian drones have been deployed against Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Defense analysts believe Iran has taken a more aggressive stance in its response to recent strikes from Israel.
Iran is proud of its drone fleet and sees these vehicles as an opportunity to evade Israeli missile systems. Iranian State TV showed off what it identified as an underground facility with 100 drones stored in the heart of the Zagros mountains.
Some of the drones are allegedly capable of carrying an Iranian-made version of air-to-surface U.S. Hellfire missiles, Reuters reported.
“No doubt the drones of Islamic Republic of Iran’s armed forces are the region’s most powerful,” one military official told Reuters. “Our capability to upgrade drones is unstoppable,” he added.
The precise location of the base, which is said to be hundreds of feet underground, was not revealed. A reporter who visited, who was blindfolded, said he took a helicopter for about 40 minutes from Kermanshah to reach the location.
TRENDPOST: There are questions about this newly released footage of the underground drone storage facility and whether these drones are props. But Iran’s capability to respond to an Israeli confrontation appears to be increasing by the day. Not just with its drone program, but with its missile technology as well.
Pot Calls Kettle Black
While the media continues to report on Israel’s determination to stop Iran from going nuclear, rarely is it noted that according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Israel possesses at minimum some 90 plutonium-based nuclear warheads and has produced enough plutonium for 100-200 weapons.
Thus, it is OK for Israel and other nations to have nuclear weapons but not Iran… or, for that matter, North Korea. Only nations sanctified by a higher political order are permitted to have nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction. And, as evidenced with Iraq, whether they possess them or not, the very thought of it is enough to invade and destroy an “enemy” nation.
HAPPY JERUSALEM DAY: MARCHERS SCREAM ‘DEATH TO ARABS’
Tensions were high on Sunday on Jerusalem Day at the Temple Mount when Jewish visitors arrived waving Israeli flags, prompting Palestinians inside the building to chant, “With spirit and blood we’ll sacrifice for you, O Aqsa.”
About 70,000 Jewish nationalists, the largest Jerusalem Day march in years, took to the streets near the mosque on Sunday and some chanted racist slogans, The Times of Israel reported. Some of the Israelis clashed with Palestinians and police. Others called Palestinian journalists at the scene “whores” and “dogs,” the paper reported.
“Shuafat is up in flames!” some Jewish Israelis yelled, according to the paper, a stinging reference to Muhammad Abu Khdeir, a teenage resident of that Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem who was burned to death by Jewish extremists in 2014.
The Al Aqsa Mosque compound is located in Israeli-occupied Jerusalem. The location has been the scene of other recent violent outbreaks between Israelis and Palestinians that illustrate the growing tension in the region. (See “VIOLENT CLASHES BREAK OUT AT THE AL AQSA MOSQUE, AGAIN: ISRAELI POLICE ACCUSED OF BRUTALITY,” and “APARTHEID STATE OF ISRAEL CLAMPING DOWN ON PALESTINIANS.”)
Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official, told The Times of Israel that waving Israeli flags at the Muslim holy site could provoke a violent response and that the “resistance will take down those flags with their rockets.”
The paper reported that tensions at the holy site have been high. There has been an arrangement in place, known as the status quo, that allows Jews to visit the Temple Mount, but they cannot pray or worship. Those actions could be perceived as provocations to Muslims, the paper said.
“Many Jews over the past year have awoken to nationalism and to the importance of Damascus Gate,” Nehama Dina, 21, a resident of Tekoa in the West Bank told the paper.
The United Arab Emirates on Monday condemned the actions of the Israeli activists on the Temple Mount for the “storming of extremist settlers into the courtyard of the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of Israeli forces.”
The Jerusalem Post reported that Turkey and Jordan also issued statements condemning the protest. The Turkish statement identified Itamar Ben-Gvir, a member of Knesset in the Religious Zionist Party, who visited the Temple Mount on Sunday to protest the status quo which forbids Jewish prayer at the site.
“The raids on the al-Aqsa Mosque by the Israeli member of Parliament, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and by radical Jewish groups under the protection of the Israeli police, as well as the attempts of these groups to worship in this area are a clear violation of the status quo of al-Haram al-Sharif and the al-Aqsa Mosque,” Turkey said, according to the paper.
The paper said there is a growing right-wing movement in the country that is pushing to allow for Jewish prayer at the site.
“The fact that we are living here [in Israel] riles and annoys them. So—what, we should return to Europe?” the Religious Zionist party MK said. Ben-Gvir later tweeted that “we will not give in to threats by terror groups—we are the landlords in Jerusalem.”
Clashes broke out during the march and at least 60 people were detained. The report said five Israeli police officers and three Israelis were hurt. About 40 Palestinians were injured.
The Palestinian Red Crescent told Al Jazeera that injuries sustained by Palestinians had been caused by “rubber-coated bullets, beatings, pepper spray, and one case of live ammunition. At least 28 Palestinians were transferred to hospital for treatment.”
Naftali Bennett, the Israeli prime minister, called on those taking part in the march to behave responsibly, the paper said.
“Flying the Israeli flag in the capital of Israel is self-evident,” Bennett said. “I request that the participants celebrate responsibly and in a respectful manner.”
Al Jazeera called Jerusalem Day a day of violence in “which ultra-nationalist Jewish Israelis attacked countless Palestinians, many times under the eyes of Israeli police.”
Nasser al-Hidmi, a Jerusalem-based political analyst, told the outlet that “the lawlessness and provocations of the settlers” on Sunday set a “very dangerous precedent.”
“The scenes we witnessed yesterday were catastrophic for Palestinian Jerusalemites and the Palestinian people as a whole,” al-Hidmi told Al Jazeera. “It was very clear that the occupation’s government gave the reins to its settlers in order to carry out their assaults,” which he said “only come out of hatred and racism, which are rampant in Zionist society.”
TRENDPOST: Pure hypocrisy. While the mainstream media reported on the violence and screaming of “Death to Arabs,” hardly a condemnation for those action. However, if Arabs were to have invaded Israel and occupied their territory and screamed on the holiday they stole the land “Death to Jews”, it would be reported as a malicious anti-Semitic horror.
TRENDPOST: While the Western media continually chastises Russia for its war against Ukraine and its intent to occupy Ukraine, those who note Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land are denounced as being “anti-Semites.”
In the 1967 six day war, Israel invaded and seized Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, the Syrian Golan Heights, expelling some 300,000 Palestinians from their homes, while gaining stolen territory that was three and a half times its original size.
Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. They violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 that states, “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
The U.N. Security Council, the U.N. General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Court of Justice, and the High Contracting Parties to the Convention have all affirmed that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies, that this is occupied territory, and Israeli settlements there are illegal.